A social worker licensed to provide therapy in Florida and Tennessee let her untrained, unlicensed wife impersonate her in online sessions, according to authorities in both states. The alleged ruse wasn't discovered until Tammy Heath-Randolph, wife of Peggy Randolph, died in 2023, the BBC reports. State authorities say Randolph, who was licensed to provide therapy through Brightside Health, was paid for sessions her wife conducted. She allegedly had her wife deal with clients online so she had more time to see clients in person.
According to a Florida Department of Health investigation report, the couple defrauded patients through a "coordinated effort," CBS News reports. The report said a Brightside internal investigation found that Heath-Randolph had been "seeing all her patients and had been for a long time."A settlement agreement in Tennessee said Randolph was supposed to provide therapy to hundreds of patients online between early 2021 and early 2023. The deception was uncovered when a client discovered she had been talking to the wrong person, according to the Tennessee agreement.
According to the agreement, Randolph claimed she didn't know her wife had been using her Brightside login details. Records show that investigations in Florida and Tennessee were not completed because Randolph voluntarily surrendered her licenses to practice in both states. Brightside spokeswoman Hannah Changi tells CBS that the company fired Randolph and reported her to state authorities when it learned of the allegations. "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," Changi says. (More therapy stories.)
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