My Legal Obligations As
A Healthcare Professional
CONFIDENTIALITY:
Priests and ministers are barred from disclosing any information about anybody given to them under the sacrament of confession. Under the sanctity of the confessional, criminals may disclose the gory details of their crimes without fear of their confessor ever divulging this confidential information. If any person who confesses to a priest or minister believes they were confessing their sins to the Divine, the priest or minister must keep that confession completely confidential.
Healthcare professionals are required by law to report all illegal activity or suspected illegal activity of their clients to the proper authorities. This includes agencies for the protection of children, women and the elderly. It also includes the police, district, state or provincial attorneys, and local, state or provincial departments of health, education and welfare,
MANDATORY REPORTING LAWS:
All professionals providing medical, health, wellness, psychotherapy, counseling or coaching services, including biofeedback professionals, must report any client they suspect is actively abusing others or whom they suspect is actively being abused. It is a criminal offense not to report such suspected activities to the police or agencies that protect abused people.
All professionals, including biofeedback professionals, are legally required to report any person they know or suspect to be a sexual predator or pedophile to the local, state or provincial police or government attorney. It is a crime for any medical doctor, chiropractor, psychotherapist, homeopath, naturopath, massage therapist, acupuncturist, oriental medical doctor, dentist, nurse, school teacher, nutritionist, hypnotist, biofeedback provider, coach, allopathic, natural, holistic or alternative healthcare provider not to report any known or suspected sexual predator or pedophile to the authorities in all 50 states and 10 provinces.
ILLEGAL ACTIVITIES:
Spiritual healers and coaches do not have the authority to perform the sacrament of confession. They have the same obligation as any other professional to report known and suspected abuse or criminal activity, sexual predators and pedophiles to the proper authorities.
Healthcare professionals who are also ministers or priests are well-advised to take a good look at their ministry and decide if being a minister or priest is more important to them than protecting the public from their clients who are suspected criminals, abusive, sexual predators or pedophiles. There is no disgrace in announcing in your informed consent form that you report illegal activities to the proper authorities even if you are a priest or minister. But this needs to be done before your client confesses these kinds of criminal activities to you.
MAIL ORDER MINISTERS:
This is especially important for ministers who purchase their ordination without first attending seminary or receiving the equivalent training from a spiritual mentor. The legal system considers this the same as purchasing a degree from a mail order “paper mill” without taking college level courses to substantiate the degree. The legal system gives both mail order ministers and people with fake degrees a great deal of leeway until they do something wrong.
The problem with this is that mail order ministers don’t know they did something wrong until they are arrested.
One way this happens is if a client breaks the law and hurts other people, the “mail order” minister knew and did not report it to the proper authorities. According to several sources, most “mail order” ministers who are arrested and prosecuted made this mistake. To add injury to insult, the prime witness against “mail order” ministers is usually their client whom they did not report.
The law grants immunity from prosecution to “full-time” priests and ministers who receive confession from parishioners under the sanctity of the confessional. In this sense, the words “full time” mean the minister receives no other income or remuneration except for being a minister. For all other ministers, the law may protect you or prosecute you and you never know which until it’s too late.
Do not expect your mail order ministerial papers to protect you from prosecution if somebody gets hurt by one of your clients and you knew this was a distinct possibility but chose not to report it to the proper authorities. The best way to avoid this is to include a statement in your informed consent form stating you are required by law to report all illegal activities to the proper authorities.
CONFESSION:
Alternative, traditional, licensed, holistic, and natural healthcare professionals are legally required by law to report all suspected illegal activities to the proper authorities. There are no exceptions except for members of the clergy under certain conditions already discussed.
Many denominations do not honor confession as a sacrament for their church. Ministers need to know if their church or denomination honors confession as a sacrament. Independent ministers who do not have a church are well-advised to advise their clients and parishioners hear confession but are required to report illegal activities to the proper authorities.
Independent ministers who desire to keep all confessions absolutely confidential need to find a denomination that will accept them as a minister and start their own church in that denomination. This church can be home-based, rent space for meetings or conduct everything over the Internet. Learn how to be a legal church and then follow those guidelines.
Legal Notice:
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