A psychologist was caught by the courts for enriching herself to the detriment of children with autism. Employed by the Pôle Autisme Foundation at the material times, the defendant was responsible for the therapeutic monitoring of several toddlers under the age of five.
Instead, “she cleverly misled the Pôle Autisme Foundation, making it believe that she had provided care for a greater number of hours than she had actually done.”
The accused billed for consultations that did not take place and inflated the duration of those carried out. “This is based on the fact that it was difficult, if not impossible, for the foundation to carry out careful verifications,” notes the judgment rendered at the end of March.
She did this in particular with three young children. For one of them, she billed for more than 30 hours of consultation even though only 5 had taken place during the three months concerned. Between fall 2022 and summer 2023, the defendant invented 35 interviews and inflated the duration of the meetings, adding a total of 77 imaginary hours.
“This is an unacceptable criminal offense, especially since it concerns children in very vulnerable situations,” comments Stephan Eliez, director of the foundation, who quickly detected irregularities after the departure of the employee.
While she was required to carry out regular monitoring of these children suffering from autistic disorder, she provided “therapeutic care well below what would have been necessary to develop their social abilities and prevent intellectual deterioration secondary to the “autism, endangering their psychological development”, underlines the Public Prosecutor’s Office. The latter convicted her of violation of the duty to provide assistance, forgery of titles and fraud.
“As soon as the facts were observed and even before the legal procedure was initiated, the hours of care which would have led to an insufficiency of service were compensated, according to each situation and even beyond the service contract,” confides the person in charge of the structure. If the financial loss amounts to a few thousand francs, “it is the fact that autistic children can be denied their services by a therapist” which pushed the foundation to take legal action.
When confronted by the police, the accused disputed the facts, claiming that it was an error in the billing software. Without being able to explain the differences, she assured that she had never deliberately overcharged and said she was ready to reimburse any proven financial damage.
Unconvinced by these explanations, the prosecution imposed a suspended 120-day fine of 100 francs (12,000 francs) on him, and a fine of 2,400 francs. The psychologist, who will also have to pay 520 francs in legal costs, did not object.
