Hello! So rather than trying to write paragraphs of the situation I'll just give some bullet points followed by the main questions:
A little background:
*I'm a new LMT, I just got my MA# last week.
*A few months ago my instructor, Sam (name is changed for privacy) offered a room rental to me in his new practice (it just opened in January) once I graduated and had my license.
*Other students were doing it and it all seemed legit. so I said I'd do it.
*I asked the school if I could start a mailing list so that my clients who were interested in following me could get updates once I was out of school. The powers that be at school said I could.
*My clients were more than happy to give me their information. It was an informed and consensual giving of personal information.
The issue:
***A few weeks ago I was making up some hours in weekend clinic and witnessed a girl taking down email addresses and phone numbers from client intake forms. When I asked her about it she said that Sam had said it was OK, they were going to use it to promote Sam's new practice but asked me not to tell anyone at the school (yes, the alarm bells in my head went off!).
*The client forms were being pulled from the file drawer at random and the clients did not know/give consent to anyone in the school to have their information used for this purpose.
*She was NOT copying soap notes or medical information, just contact info.
*I don't know how to bring this up irl because everyone I would ask knows who I would be taking about.
*I brought it up to Sam that day but he said not to worry and that everything was fine. He said he even talked to someone at school about it (which left me wondering why I wasn't supposed to say anything).
*I didn't bring it up sooner because quite frankly I didn't want to be a rat, I wanted to rent the room and I wasn't sure if it was really a big deal.
*now that I've had some time to think about it I realized I'm not sure I agree with it ethically! I don't want to be guilty by association and it makes me question some other choices he might make in the future.
*Is gathering information this way legal? Even if it is, am I wrong to think of it as unethical?
*I don't think it is but, is this in any way a HIPPA violation? or *just* a privacy violation?
*If a client complained what kind of action could be taken against Sam?
*Am I making a mountain out of an ant hill?
*There are a few other issues that I'm going to talk to Sam about before I rent the room but I want feedback on this particular issue.
If you all would be so kind as to bring your thoughts to the table I'd really appreciate it.
Thanks!