Citation

Meyers CL. J. Psychiatry Law 1997; 25(3): 365-376.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1997, Federal Legal Publications)

DOI

10.1177/009318539702500304

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

A California appellate decision uses a Tarasoft analysis to remind mental health professionals that they have a duty to communicate serious threats and known dangers not only to their patients' readily identifiable victims but also to their patients' subsequent caregivers. It also serves notice that the Tarasoft duty can be extended to threats of suicide. Positing a hierarchy of threats and duties implied in the laws that make therapists responsible for intervening to prevent their patients from doing harm, the author suggests courses of action for each step of the hierarchy. The more dangerous the patient, the more aggressive is the expected intervention on the part of the therapist.

Language: en