Ethical Care and Recovery: A Cornerstone for Healing

Ethics and quality treatment go hand-in-hand. One often doesn’t exist without the other and if they do, the impact of either lessens. In an industry shaped by unethical practices, some of which have just become the norm, a pursuit of ethics sets many organizations and providers apart.

We’ll explore what ethics are in the behavioral health industry and why they’re such an important part of recovery—regardless of the conditions present, the level of care, or patient preferences. Ethics remain the baseline of effective care.

Listen to our podcast episode with Marvin Ventrell, CEO of the National Association of Addiction Providers (NAATP), to learn more about ethics in treatment from the person who spearheaded the effort.

Ethics: What They Are and Why They Matter

At first thought, ‘being ethical’ may sound like feeding the homeless, treating others fairly, or being honest. People without ethics often star as villains in books and films, but in reality, a lack of ethics often shows in more subtle ways. Sometimes, that’s because we or another party don’t know the ethics of a certain industry, place, or demographic and act unethically by accident. Other times, acting unethically is an intentional choice to manipulate and mislead for personal gain. Usually, monetary.

Treatment that prioritizes ethics both improves the chances of success and helps patients feel respected and cared for, which maintains their dignity. Lacking ethics has consequences, from being hurtful to costing someone the recovery opportunity they deserved. In dire cases, unethical practices can directly or indirectly end someone’s life. 

Unethical Practices in Addiction Treatment

Ethics in the addiction treatment space have gotten more robust and structured, but that wasn’t always the case. Old practices still happen today and, unfortunately, can marr the otherwise respectable reputation of treatment providers. These are some of those practices.

Patient Brokering

Patient brokering is the practice of unethically attracting people to a certain treatment center through a broker that offers free flights, gifts, money, or even drugs. The ‘broker’ who refers them to treatment gets a compensation fee. Sometimes, brokers will help people relapse and then encourage them to go to the specific treatment center that gives them compensation. Brokers may share their fees to encourage patients to relapse and go to treatment.

The Affordable Care Act requires insurance companies to pay for addiction treatment, which means patients with good-paying insurance are often the targets of patient brokering, or body brokering. Once the patient’s insurance is charged, they’re run through treatment quickly, primed to relapse and return again to the center (so they can charge their insurance again). 

Thankfully, patient brokering has become illegal and therefore less common. But it still happens. States like Florida and California still battle shady providers and brokers, shutting them down as soon as they can. 

Misleading Marketing

Some treatment centers rely on misleading marketing to draw in patients—and their insurance. AI-generated images or generic stock photos make the center look nicer than it is, or advertise amenities and therapies that don’t actually exist (like private bedrooms, a pool, or equine therapy). The center could also claim they have more experienced or higher qualified staff than they actually do, like saying all their therapists are masters-level when they aren’t.

Thinking they’ve found an amazing center at an equally amazing price, patients or their loved ones may commit to treatment and pay upfront for their care without realizing they’ve been duped. 

Paying for Leads

Some treatment providers pay for ‘leads’ to their website, which are website clicks, phone calls, or messages indicating interest in treatment. For example, a treatment center may pay a directory or call center to send them a certain amount of leads. One way a call center can do this is by saying other treatment centers are full or closed, leaving the one paying them as ‘the only option.’ 

Lack of Transparency

Some treatment centers purposefully make it difficult to ascertain what they do and how they do it. They may also distort what the living conditions will look like, using vague statements like, “Patients are onsite.” (Living where? What are the rooms like? Is it actually residential? Will there be meals?)

The admissions staff are often just as vague, encouraging you to make your payments, get through the admissions process, and start treatment instead of answering questions. Once you get to the center, you may realize it’s not a good fit or not at all what you expected. 

Exposing Patient Identities

One of the last things many patients want is to see their face plastered over marketing materials or used on the website of the place they went to get treatment. Addiction and mental health treatment is deeply personal and often vulnerable; not something people often want disclosed (especially celebrities or high-ranking corporate employees/employers).

Unethical providers sometimes use pictures of patients to capture their treatment services and amenities. If treatment centers do use pictures of patients in their marketing materials or on social media, the patient must be fully aware and give their approval before the image can show anywhere on the internet or printed materials.