(a)  If a mental health professional has reasonable cause to suspect that a patient he or she has seen in the course of professional duties is a victim of sexual contact by another mental health professional, or a person who holds himself or herself out to be a mental health professional, as soon thereafter as practicable, the mental health professional shall ask the patient if he or she wants to make a report or wants the mental health professional to make a report under this section. If the patient wants the mental health professional to make the report, the patient shall provide the mental health professional with written consent to report.

Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws 5-63.1-2

  • Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
  • Patient: is a person who obtains a professional consultation or diagnostic or therapeutic service from a mental health professional. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-63.1-1
  • person: may be construed to extend to and include co-partnerships and bodies corporate and politic. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-6
  • Reporter: Makes a record of court proceedings and prepares a transcript, and also publishes the court's opinions or decisions (in the courts of appeals).
  • Sexual contact: means any of the following, whether or not occurring with the consent of a patient or former patient:

    (A)  Sexual intercourse, cunnilingus, fellatio, anal intercourse, or any intrusion, however slight, into the genital or anal openings of the patient's or former patient's body by any part of the mental health professional's body or any object used by the mental health professional for that purpose, or any intrusion, however slight, into the genital or anal openings of the mental health professional's body by any part of the patient's or former patient's body or by any object used by the patient or former patient for that purpose, if consented to by the mental health professional;

    (B)  Sustained kissing of the mouth or kissing or intentional touching by the mental health professional of the patient's or former patient's genital area, groin, inner thigh, buttocks, or breast or the clothing covering any of these body parts; or sustained kissing of the mouth or kissing or intentional touching by the patient or former patient of the mental health professional's genital area, groin, inner thigh, buttocks, or breast or the clothing covering any of these body parts if the mental health professional consents to the kissing or intentional touching;

    (C)  Exhibition by the mental health professional in view of the patient or former patient of the mental health professional's genital area, groin, inner thigh, buttocks, or breast; voyeurism by the mental health professional in the form of viewing the patient's or former patient's genital area, groin, inner thigh, buttocks, or breast;

    (D)  Using the influence inherent in the mental health professional-patient or mental health professional-former patient relationship to induce the patient or former patient to engage in sexual contact with a third party. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-63.1-1

  • Subject: means the mental health professional named in a report as being suspected of having sexual contact with a patient or former patient or who has been determined to have engaged in sexual contact with a patient or former patient. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-63.1-1

(b)  Within thirty (30) days after a patient consents under subsection (a) to a report, the mental health professional shall report the suspected activity to:

(1)  The professional’s board of licensing, certification, registration, or equivalent oversight authority, if the reporter believes the subject of the report is licensed or certified by the state;

(2)  In the case of state employees, to the governing agency of the state employee; or

(3)  The attorney general’s office if subsections (b)(1) and (b)(2) are not applicable.

(c)  A report under this section shall contain only information that is necessary to identify the reporter and subject and to express the suspicion that sexual contact has occurred.

(d)  Any person required to make a written report under this section who fails to do so shall be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars ($500) and shall be subject to discipline by the appropriate licensing board of registration or equivalent oversight authority. Unlicensed mental health professionals shall be referred to the attorney general’s office.

(e)  The attorney general shall establish, within the office’s budget, a restricted-receipts account for the limited purpose of receiving and retaining the fines assessed under the provisions of this chapter. These funds shall be retained in the restricted-receipts account to be used exclusively for programs established by the state and any subdivisions of the state, or established by any municipality, for the purpose of assisting victims of sexual misconduct that is perpetrated by mental health professionals.

History of Section.
P.L. 1994, ch. 355, § 1.