A couple of interesting emotional support animal medical verification questions have hit my desk over the past month. First, recall that case law on the issue of permissible credentials of a medical or health care professional is a bit unclear. Individuals who are licensed by a public regulatory authority (such as a state) to provide medical care, therapy or counseling to persons with disabilities certainly qualify. This includes, of course, medical doctors, physician assistants, psychiatrists, psychologists, and many social workers. Guidance from the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) notes that a peer support group or even a non-medical service agency may also provide verifications in appropriate circumstances. As has been written in this space, however, many professional apartment management companies are pushing back against medical verifications that appear to have been simply purchased over the internet without any legitimate medical evaluation or analysis. Those are easier.
But what happens when, for example, a licensed chiropractor from California purports to verify an emotional support animal with a diagnosis of depression for an applicant who lives in Florida? Or when one counselor writes the exact same letter for 12 residents at the same property? Sorry to say there is no cookie cutter response. We do an individualized evaluation of the letters to make a determine (as best we can) if the medical verifications are legitimate within the bounds of what the law permits management to ask. Many times the letters have other defects which permits us to seek further clarification to determine if the verifications are legitimate.
The bottom line is that unless and until DOJ/HUD or the courts give us more guidance, management will continue to review, evaluate, and respond as best we can. That being written, it seems to me to make sense to require that someone have a credential for an area related to that for which he/she purports to give the certification. And that an individual professionally trained in a health care field actually evaluate the resident to confirm a legitimate disability and need for an emotional support animal.
Just A Thought.
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