Fake online therapist tricked hundreds of patients

Authorities in Florida and Tennessee have accused a social worker of helping her wife impersonate her in online therapy sessions for nearly two years.

Peggy Randolph, who was licensed to provide therapy in both states through the platform Brightside Health, is said to have knowingly defrauded hundreds of patients.

Ms Randolph has denied the accusation, saying she did not know her wife, Tammy Heath-Randolph, who was not licensed or trained, had treated clients under her account.

The ruse was uncovered after Ms Heath-Randolph died in February 2023.

At that time, Brightside Health received a complaint from a client who had discovered through social media that Ms Randolph’s wife was the one treating them, according to documents from the Tennessee Department of Health, external.

While Ms Randolph denied knowing that her wife was treating patients on her behalf, authorities said the wife was getting paid for sessions she conducted.

The therapist voluntarily retired her license in August 2023 after an internal investigation by Brightside, which found she had shared her log-in credentials with her wife.

During that investigation, it became apparent Tammy Heath-Randolph was seeing all of Peggy Randolph’s patients on-line, “and had been for a long time”, said an investigative report by the Florida Department of Health, external.

Ms Randolph worked for Brightside Health from January 2021 to February 2023 and was supposedly providing therapy to “hundreds of clients” in that timeframe, Tennessee health authorities said.

She is said to have carried out the ruse so that she had time to see other patients in person.

In addition to losing her license to practice, Ms Randolph was also ordered to pay a $1,000 (£788) penalty.

Because Ms Randolph voluntarily surrendered her license, the investigation against her was dropped and no further information was provided by either authorities on the nature of evidence against Ms Randolph or her now-deceased wife.

The case only became public recently after Florida and Tennessee released documents related to Ms Randolph’s conduct in May.

It was first reported by BBC’s US news partner CBS, external.

Hannah Changi, a spokesperson for Brightside, told CBS News that as soon as the company learned of the allegations, it fired Ms Randolph and reported her to state licensing authorities.

She did not provide a firm number on how many patients were impacted “due to the nature of the incident and ongoing legal proceedings,” but said the company had refunded all impacted patients.

“We’re extremely disappointed that a single provider was willing to violate the trust that Brightside and, most importantly, her patients had placed in her,” Ms Changi said in a statement.