ANN ARBOR, Mich. – A Westland woman says the psychiatric nurse practitioner she trusted to guide her through a mental-health crisis in Ann Arbor instead manipulated her into secretly loaning thousands of dollars, conduct that the state of Michigan now alleges violated multiple provisions of the Public Health Code.
Mary Carmichael, 46, said she first found Priscilla Jimenez, a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner, on PsychologyToday.com in February of 2023 while searching for help with her mental health.
“I felt like she was my lifeline,” Carmichael said. “I felt like I found somebody that I could trust and that it was wonderful.”
But Carmichael said everything changed after she mentioned she had money coming in during a period of financial “dire straits.”
“As soon as I told her that, and she knew I had the money, she started asking me for loans,” she said.
Carmichael said Jimenez knew she struggled with hypomania and excessive spending — triggers Carmichael told Local 4 she had openly discussed as part of treatment.
“I felt like she manipulated my care at that point,” Carmichael said through tears. “I told her everything. And it’s hard to trust again.”
The requests escalated, Carmichael said, from seemingly reasonable explanations to “egregious” ones.
“She said she was being evicted, that her nursing license was expired, that she was starting her own practice,” Carmichael said. “But why would you need money from me, a patient, in order to do that?”
Carmichael said she transferred “thousands of dollars” via Zelle but is unsure of the total. She said Jimenez instructed her to keep the loans a secret.
“She told me not to tell anybody,” Carmichael said. “She told me not to tell the other patient that she saw that I knew, and she told me not to tell my talk therapist, or she would get in trouble.”
The turning point came when Carmichael said she learned she had allegedly been borrowing money from another patient.
“I didn’t feel special anymore,” she said. “And I was so scared that it was going to happen to somebody else.”
Carmichael then said she blocked Jimenez’s number and filed a complaint with the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA).
What the state alleges
An Administrative Complaint filed by LARA’s Bureau of Professional Licensing states, “from June 17 to August 3, 2024, Respondent made multiple requests to M.C. for M.C. to provide personal loans to assist with Respondent’s personal finances. M.C. transferred a total of $3,025.00 to Respondent in seven separate electronic payment transactions.”
The state also says that on August 11, 2024, Jimenez requested another $816 via an electronic payment app to “help prevent Respondent from being evicted,” though the patient did not send the money.
The complaint further states that on March 3, 2025, “Respondent text messaged M.C. with a request for $80.00 to assist Respondent with financial issues Respondent was experiencing with Respondent’s debit card.”
Carmichael said after she blocked Jimenez’s number, she sought a new provider.
“It’s been eight months of anxiety, shame, hollow,” Carmichael said. “It’s so hard. I don’t trust my own judgment anymore.”
The complaint alleges four separate counts, including negligence or failure to exercise due care, incompetence for “failing to conform to minimal standards of acceptable practice,” lack of good moral character, and Betrayal of professional confidence.
“I know the truth.”
Carmichael said she has never met Jimenez in person — all sessions were held virtually or by phone. She said she’s sharing her story because, after months of shame and self-doubt, she realised “it wasn’t my fault.”
“I know the truth, and that’s why I’m saying it,” Carmichael said. “If I can help somebody else not feel the way that I’m feeling, then I have to say something.”
Attorney responds
Local 4 reached out to Westlake and was told “no comment.”
Aaron J. Kemp, an attorney representing Jimenez with Chapman Law Group, said they were unable to offer “any substantive comment due to the pending open administrative complaint before the Bureau of Professional Licensing,” but said they “look forward to vigorously defending Ms. Jimenez and seeking dismissal of the administrative complaint once all the relevant facts come to light.”
The Investigators on Local 4 also reached out to LARA to learn the status of the complaint, if Jimenez ever responded to the complaint, if the complaint was transmitted to the board’s disciplinary subcommittee and if any action has been taken against Jimenez. We are waiting on a response.
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