Witchcraft in the hospital

[Cassinia]

The following article is involves an event currently going on in the area I live in. The scary thing is, this is the hospital I use to work at. :uhoh21:

Witchcraft alleged in malpractice suit

3/30/2005

By Kelly Casino

Northwest Herald

ST. CHARLES - A medical malpractice suit against Delnor-Community Hospital states that a former psychologist administered witchcraft to her patient under the guise of therapy.

Chicago resident Deanna Whetstine filed the lawsuit against Delnor on Monday, alleging that the hospital failed to adequately supervise psychologist Letitia Libman and was otherwise negligent.

According to the lawsuit, Libman allegedly directed Whetstine to talk to the dead, gave her witch's spells to attempt, encouraged her to join her Wiccan covenant, and said she used psychic powers to heal people.

Whetstine was under Libman's care at the St. Charles branch of the hospital between July 2002 and December 2004, according to the lawsuit.

Over the course of her therapy, Whetstine alleges that Libman, of St. Charles, counseled her to stop taking her medications, falsified her medical records, attempted to convince her to stop seeing her neurologist and told her she was dying when she was not, the lawsuit states.

Whetstine also alleges that Libman convinced her to divorce her husband and move in with her, where she forced Whetstine to take naked pictures of her, discussed her sexual preferences in detail, bragged about her promiscuity, and discussed her other patients' mental problems and sexual histories, according to the lawsuit.

Hospital officials conducted an internal investigation after receiving a patient complaint regarding Libman in January, but spokesman Brian Griffin said patient and employee confidentiality and the pending litigation prevent officials from speaking further about the case.

Libman's position since has been taken over by a licensed psychologist with more than 10 years experience, according to a statement from Delnor CEO Craig Livermore.

This is the second suit brought against Delnor in relation to Libman, the first filed March 16 by North Carolina resident Shelley Standau.

Standau claims that from approximately September 2001 until June 2004, she was subjected to many of the same situations as Whetstine, according to the lawsuit.

As a result of their experiences, Standau and Whetstine claim in their lawsuits that they experienced severe depression, were suicidal, and suffered serious mental and physical injuries.

Standau is asking for a judgment in the amount of $1 million. The amount sought in Whetstine's case is not stated. Both women are represented by Richard Lee Stavins of Robbins, Salomon & Patt, Ltd. in Chicago.

[Cassinia]

Just a little more information: There is another woman at the company I am working at who worked in the same hospital. Neither of us know this psychologist. We have never heard this name before. Apparently, this person was working there while I was still at the facility.

The other odd thing is we do not have a psych unit in our facility. We usually send psych patients to either a facility in Aurora or Elgin which have programs and inpatient facilities.

The article (I think it's in this one, maybe it's another one) indicates the St. Charles facility. There is no longer a St. Charles facility. The St. Charles facility merged with the Geneva facility to become the current facility. The only thing in St. Charles is the doctors' park.

My co-worker and I are really confused about how this woman ties into the hospital. However, we also find it a bit humerous because of the type of person the CEO is. A number of years ago, my martial arts instructor and I were trying to get a small class of Tai Chi in there for the staff but were met with lots of resistance. We were told Tai Chi was a "mystical religion" We eventually got it in, but only for a short period time. Later, after the Wellness Center was built, Tai Chi classes and Ai Chi (water tai chi) classes were commonplace. Well, what goes around comes around. Now he as to deal with this. :)

[fab4fan]

Uhm, first time any practitioner would suggest to me to commune with the dead, use spells as a part of treament would be the LAST time I'd see that person. I surely would not have continued "treatment" for 5 months. I would have beat feet, and fast. As for the other stuff...whoah!

That really, really crossed the line. Personal religious beliefs should not be imposed on patients, no matter if the caregiver is Wiccan/Catholic/Protestant or some other faith.

[mattsmom81]

OMG. If this is proven true and she is found guilty, she needs to be jailed, then labeled as a sexual predator IMO. How horrid for a 'professional' to take such advantage of people with psych problems.

I assume there are professional boards overseeing clinical psychologists' but since their practices are generally private they can get away with a lot I suspect..unless someone reports.

Sadly, like Charles Cullen, sickos occasionally squeak through. Somehow his reports never followed him either.

I'm sure the plaintiff attorneys would like to affilliate the psychologist with the hospital, to get more $$$ in the lawsuit.