I have a friend (seriously–stop looking at me!) who has a part-time job working for a “counselor.” His shingle reads[sup]1[/sup]*“Dr. William P. Counselor, Phd.” OK, so far, so good. My friend also recently saw his “doctorate” diploma (which is normally not in plain sight). It was from a place she had never heard of, and sounded suspiciously like a diploma mill. I did a little Googling and found only one hit—a local chap with a similar degree who [sup]2[/sup]is/was pastor of a [sup]3[/sup]church. With a little more digging, she found that these “degrees” were awarded from (yet another) local church. Apparently that pastor there gives out “degrees” for various things.
Now, the chap in question does not have a “real” Phd, and does not hold any “real” doctorate. Are any laws being broken?
[sup]1[/sup]Obviously not his real name.
[sup]2[/sup]The web page I found was last updated in 2003
[sup]3[/sup]Well, maybe. The congregation meets/met in a hotel, and the address for the church is a PO box near the pastor’s home.
Aside from the fact that I’ve never known of any diploma or certificate to have both Dr." and “PhD” on the same line…
Is Dr. Counselor presenting himself as a licensed anything? If so, the state board probably has some guidelines (e.g., you can’t call yourself a psycholigist unless you have a PhD, but you can be a “counselor” or “therapist.”)
Is he being reimbursed by insurance? They might be interested.
However, as long as he’s not trying to write prescriptions, I’m not sure what law might be violated.
His shop is actually listed as a “drug testing service,” and the counseling is a sideline business. As I understand it from what bits I’ve been told, he often does not actually perform the test–just takes the money and sends back “tested negative” results to the prospective employer. I have a feeling that that’s not entirely on the up-and-up.
Are any laws being broken? Probably not, unless, as kunilou stated, the person is passing himself off as being licensed. The person may be committing fraud if he is accepting payment under the false pretense that he is a Ph.D.
But just about anyone can call themselves “Dr.” or “Reverend” just because they feel like it. “Dr. Hunter S. Thompson,” “Dr. Dre” and “Dr. Demento” come to mind. They just can’t actually provide medical services or defraud anyone by representing themselves as something they are not.
On preview… If his clients have been deliberately mislead as to his qualifications to perform the service he is providing, that’s probably illegal. And the way it sounds, he actually sometimes fails to perform a service he’s charging for, which is definitely fraud.