Tampa Tribune

Crusader Pressed State For List Of Possible Violations

–Excerpt

Save for the persistence of one person, Ken Kramer, of Clearwater, the Florida Department of Health might not be telling prosecutors about alleged sexual improprieties involving psychotherapists…

Kramer began wondering last year whether the health department was complying with a 1992 state law requiring it to notify local prosecutors of cases involving alleged sexual contact between therapists and patients and sent the department a public records request on the subject in July.

“They couldn’t find anything” at first, Kramer says. He kept at it.

Finally, the department sent him evidence of about 100 cases that should have been referred but hadn’t been, Kramer says. He thinks there are more.

“The Department of Health is up to their eyeballs in crimes committed by psychotherapists,” Kramer says.

He has found evidence in one document suggesting department officials “are fearful that if they report all crimes they would overwhelm state attorney offices” across Florida, he says.

Department spokeswoman Lindsay Hodges says the agency is “grateful to Mr. Kramer for bringing this matter to our attention.”

Excerpted from:
Crusader Pressed State For List Of Possible Violations
By Lenny Savino
The Tampa Tribune
January 28, 2005

This excerpt is reproduced for purposes of commentary, criticism, and public education under fair-use principles.