I am wrong about the law on this. I am horrified by this law, but I don't get to make the law and am happy to admit when I am wrong. Here is an contemporaneous paper (to approx time of M's telling her psychiatrist) re: failure to report knowledge of a crime when told in session as a therapist. It specifies on page 5 that although it is illegal in the state of Ohio to fail to report a death, this law does not apply to mental health providers. https://jaapl.org/content/jaapl/14/3/221.full.pdf This law is still on the books today. Section 2921.22 - Ohio Revised Code | Ohio LawsIt is entirely possible that Martha's memories emerged over time, over years. It's entirely possible she didn't have more than a feeling something might have happened to another child to begin with, back in 1989. Not enough for either her or her therapist to report. When her memories became more solid, clearer, with enough detail to be firm about, then would be the time to approach authorities.
People have a lot of ideas about the way memory works, a lot of it oversimplified, or just plain wrong. The fact is, people can and often do forget child abuse. They go on to have productive, healthy lives, and then, something happens. A parent dies, they give birth to a child, they get divorced, they visit their hometown for the first time in years, and the first chink appears in the wall. It can feel like the end of the world, and sometimes it takes a very long time to make any kind of sense of it all.
That doesn't mean Martha was or wasn't truthful, that her memories were artificial or fantasy, or that her therapist failed in his reporting duty somehow. It just means that memory is complicated, especially where childhood trauma is concerned. I think that Martha and her therapist were trying to help. Whether it turns out she was connected to this case or not remains to be seen, but I think the interval between the first time it came up in therapy and when it was reported is less likely to be any kind of negligence on the part of either Martha or her therapist and more likely to be related to how her memories emerged and when they came into focus.
My opinion only.
Looks to me like the state won't sue you if you reveal information OR if you do, but the risk is the client could sue for breach of confidentiality if you inform authorities. I still say were it me, in my current role, I'd report.
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