Thanks for this very good question. The answer will likely vary from state to state. My response will focus on practice in California:

It is certainly true, as your question suggests, that the transition from unlicensed to licensed status is often accompanied by a move from supervision toward consultation. Licensed professionals are required to uphold the standard of care. As a general matter, clinicians only owe a duty of care to the patients with whom they have a professional relationship. In most cases this does not extend beyond the clinician/clinic-patient relationship.

There are some circumstances where another clinician owes a duty of care to the patient. One of these is where the other clinician is acting as a supervisor. Under California law supervisees are “employees” of the clinical supervisor and the supervisor is ultimately responsible under a number of different legal theories. Note, however, that the critical term isn’t so much whether someone is in “supervision,” but rather what is the nature of the “relationship” between this other clinician and the patient.

So keeping that in mind, I’ll answer and reframe your question:

The answer: in the rare event that something like this should happen, rather than declare an outside clinician a “supervisor,” (and thus hold him/her accountable) it is more likely that a court arriving at a similar result would merely establish that the nature of the relationship between the outside clinician and the patient created a duty of care. In other words, a court might not need to say that this outside clinician was a “supervisor,” per se. We used the terms “supervision” and “consultation” to highlight the continuum between duties owed and not owed. The important message isn’t so much in the label used as in the relationships established.

The reframe: “Are there circumstances where, if independently licensed clinicians seek assistance from another independently licensed professional, the clinician doing the assisting has a duty to do a reasonable job?” The answer is “yes, if there is an existing or created ‘relationship’ between the assisting professional and the patient.” (See the seven factors listed in the article for how this “relationship” is created.)

I hope this clarifies things. Thanks for your very good question.