A veteran in Oregon is suing his therapist claiming she made sexual advances towards him during their sessions, asked him to marry her and then falsely reported him as ‘dangerous’ when he refused to have sex with her.
A suit, filed by veteran Luke Kirk, claims Ami Diane Phillips ‘began fostering a personal relationship’ with him in April 2016, five months after he started seeking mental health and therapeutic treatment at the Veteran Affairs Medical Center in southwest Portland.
The suit, according to The Oregonian, says Phillips would physically touch Kirk, kiss him and hug him during his treatment sessions. The suit describes Phillips’ behavior as ‘below the professional standards for a social worker’.
Ami Diane Phillips is accused of fostering a personal relationship with a veteran she was treating and then falsely reporting him as ‘dangerous’ when he refused to have sex with her
‘During sessions, Phillips would sit on a counter next to (Kirk) and put her legs over him,’ the document states. ‘(Kirk) would also lean on Phillips, resting his head on her breast.’
According to the suit, during one session the 45-year-old clinical social worker placed Kirk’s hands on her hips and asked how it felt. The two then shared a kiss at the end of the session.
Phillips also gave Kirk her personal cellphone number and would invite him to meet up outside of their sessions. The suit claims the pair would spend time at Phillips’ apartment, would go out for drinks and took a trip to the beach.
The social worker is also accused of exchanging more than 4,000 text messages with her client and at one point asking him to marry her and raise an adopted child together. When Phillips tried to initiate sexual relations with Kirk, he refused, the suit says.
The relationship ended in early June 2016 when Phillips’ allegedly threatened to kill herself.
‘Phillips used her position and influence to induce (Kirk) to agree to a personal relationship,’ his lawyer Judy Snyder says in the suit.
On June 6, 2016, Kirk told Phillips he was going to report the relationship to Veteran Affairs. The suit states that she warned Kirk if he told anyone what was going on she would report him to Veteran Affairs police as ‘dangerous and for threatening her life’.
The suit claims that Phillips, 45, would physically touch, kiss and hug veteran Luke Kirk during their therapy sessions and even asked him to marry her
On June 8, Kirk filed a complaint and that same day Phillips reported that Kirk was extorting her for money and had threatened to kill her.
Phillips’ false report sparked the medical center to shut down for the remainder of the day and prompted police to wait for Kirk to show up for his appointment, according to The Oregonian.
Phillips was fired as a result and had to give up her license as a social worker.
Kirk sued the US Department of Veteran Affairs in July alleging they are responsible for Phillips’ professional negligence.
He is seeking $500,000 in damages for emotional distress saying he suffered fear of prosecution, interference with any progress in therapy and loss of trust in other medical and mental health providers.
Kirk is also asking for $6,000 in economic damages to cover the cost of him moving to California to be closer to his family for emotional support.
Phillips pleaded guilty to attempted coercion and initiating a false report and was sentenced last month to two days in jail, two years of probation, mental health counseling and 40 hours of community service.