Health Care & Hospital Law
Feb. 19, 2021
Therapists need clarity on duty to warn of patients’ violent threats
The varied interpretations of the leading case on the issue create three salient problems for practicing psychotherapists. First, predicting extreme violence is incredibly difficult.
Alexander C. Sones M.D.
Chief Resident of Forensic Psychiatry
UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior
Robert Weinstock
Founding Director
UCLA Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship Program
Robert is chief of the Greater Los Angeles VA Hospital's Forensic Section, and past president of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law.
William Connor Darby M.D.
Director
UCLA Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship Program and Health Sciences
Connor is a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
Alyssa Shauer
Associate
Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP
Email: ashauer@sheppardmullin.com
UCLA SOL; Los Angeles CA
Significant confusion and controversy have plagued the duty of mental health professionals towards potential victims of their patients' violence since the inception of the duty in the 1974 Tarasoff v. Regents of the University of California decision by the California Supreme Court. The original 1974 Tarasoff decision established an unprecedented duty of mental health professionals not only to their patients, but ...
For only $95 a month (the price of 2 article purchases)
Receive unlimited article access and full access to our archives,
Daily Appellate Report, award winning columns, and our
Verdicts and Settlements.
Or
$795 for an entire year!
Or access this article for $45
(Purchase provides 7-day access to this article. Printing, posting or downloading is not allowed.)
Already a subscriber?
Sign In