Ridicule or recourse: parents falsely accused of past sexual abuse fight back.

I. Introduction II. Psychotherapy: Can These Memories be Trusted? III. Third Party Causes of Action Against Psychotherapists A. Malpractice and Negligence B. Infliction of Emotional Distress C. Defamation D. Loss of Companionship and Society. E. Breach of Contract IV. CONCLUSION I. INTRODUCTION Gary Ramona was falsely accused of sexually molesting his twenty-three year-old daughter, Holly, when she was a child.(1) Unlike many accused of such acts, Gary Ramona fought back. On May 13, 1994, this former winery executive was awarded $500,000 by a California jury and, even more important, he gained vindication. Holly testified that between the ages of five and eight, her father repeatedly raped her.(2) She based these accusations solely on memories recovered during recent psychological therapy for bulimia.(3) She had not remembered any incidents of childhood sexual abuse until her therapists suggested that her bulimia was caused by past sexual abuse.(4) Subsequently, her therapist injected her with sodium amytal (truth serum), and while sedated, Holly accused her father of raping her when she was a child.(5) Her therapists assured her that it was impossible to fabricate stories while under sedation and actively encouraged her to confront her father.(6) Mr. Ramona strenuously denied these allegations by his daughter and her therapists. As a result of the allegations, his wife divorced him, his three teen-age daughters refused to speak to him, he was fired from his $500,000/year job, he lost fifteen pounds, and he was forced to sell the family's $3 million house.(7) Mr. Ramona claimed that Holly's therapists had implanted false memories in her mind and therefore were responsible for the injuries to his reputation and his family.(8) He contended that her therapists "suggested a link between bulimia and sexual abuse and had interpreted [Holly's] fleeting images as memories of incest."(9) Mr. Ramona sued Holly's therapists for malpractice.(10) Generally, a parent or other third party lacks standing to bring a malpractice claim against a health care provider.(11) However, in an unprecedented decision, the trial court permitted a California jury to find that the therapists breached their duty of care to Mr. Ramona when they treated Holly and encouraged her belief in her recovered memories.(12) This was the first successful malpractice case brought by a third party against a therapist in which the court found the therapist, who supposedly implanted the memories, responsible for the innocent party's monumental losses to his or her reputation, marriage, family life and career.(13) It was the first time that someone, other than a patient, successfully sued a therapist for the "increasingly controversial technique of recovered memory therapy"(14) Being labeled as a child abuser is "one of the most loathsome labels in society. . . ."(15) Even if the alleged sexual abuser is innocent, he cannot escape the social stigma of the accusation and its emotional and financial repercussions. Allowing suit and money damages does not rectify the problem. Mr. Ramona's loss was much more than $500,000 even in terms of economics. So, what purpose does allowing suit serve? Although it will not prevent all false claims and will not restore the integrity of the falsely accused, it will deter false implantation and encourage the innocent to fight back. In most circumstances, psychotherapy is an invaluable tool in the treatment of many mental disorders.(16) As the public began to realize the frequency of child sexual abuse, there was an increase in the reliance on recovered memory techniques to uncover memories of past sexual abuse.(17) In repressed memory cases, the use of psychotherapy and its techniques has brought about a new controversy regarding its reliability. "Researchers and therapists view the question of repressed memories from disparate vantage points, and with strong disagreements about the phenomena. …