Tarasoff v. Regents of the University of California
Tarasoff v. Regents of the University of California | |
---|---|
Case opinions | |
Majority | Tobriner, joined by Wright, Sullivan, Richardson |
Concur/dissent | Mosk |
Dissent | Clark, joined by McComb |
Tarasoff v.
History
Prosenjit Poddar was a student from
During the summer of 1969, Tarasoff traveled to South America. Poddar began to improve and entered therapy with Lawrence Moore, a psychologist at the student health service at Cowell Memorial Hospital in 1969. Poddar confided to Moore his intent to kill Tarasoff. Moore wrote to the campus police saying that Poddar was suffering from acute and severe
In October, after Tarasoff had returned, Poddar stopped seeing Moore. Poddar then befriended Tarasoff's brother and moved in with him. Several weeks later, on October 27, 1969, Poddar carried out the plan he had confided to Moore, stabbing and killing Tarasoff. Tarasoff's parents sued Moore and various other employees of the university.
Poddar was convicted of
Opinion of the court
The California Supreme Court found that a mental health professional has a duty not only to a patient but also to individuals who are specifically being threatened by a patient. This decision has since been adopted by most states in the U.S. and is widely influential in jurisdictions outside the U.S. as well.
Justice
Justice Mosk wrote a partial dissent,[3]: 451 arguing that (1) the rule in future cases should be one of the actual subjective prediction of violence on the part of the psychiatrist, which occurred in this case, not one based on objective professional standards, because predictions are inherently unreliable; and (2) the psychiatrists notified the police, who were presumably in a better position to protect Tarasoff than she would be to protect herself.
Justice Clark dissented, quoting a law review article that stated, "…the very practice of psychiatry depends upon the reputation in the community that the psychiatrist will not tell."[3]: 458 [4]: 188
Reception
Some decried the court's decision as a limitation of the foundation for the therapeutic relationship and progress, the client's expectation of confidentiality. In 1979, Max Siegel, a former president of the American Psychological Association, defended the therapist's right to confidentiality as sacrosanct, under any circumstances.[5] Furthermore, he suggested that had Poddar's psychologist maintained confidentiality, instead of alerting the police, Poddar might have remained in counseling and Tarasoff's death might have been averted through Poddar's psychological treatment.
Subsequent developments
As of 2012, a duty to warn or protect is mandated and codified in legislative statutes of 23 states, while the duty is not codified in a statute but is present in the common law supported by precedent in 10 states.[6] Eleven states have a permissive duty, and six states are described as having no statutes or case law offering guidance.[6]
Despite initial commentators' predictions of negative consequences for psychotherapy because of the Tarasoff ruling, court decisions show otherwise. An analysis of 70 cases that went to appellate courts between 1985 and 2006 found that only four of the six rulings in favor of the plaintiff cited Tarasoff statutes; courts ruled in favor of the defendant in 46 cases and sent 17 cases back to lower courts.[6]: 475 However, courts do rule in victims' favor in clear-cut cases of failure to warn or protect, such as the case of a psychiatrist who committed rape during a child psychiatry fellowship, for which he was recommended even after telling his own psychiatrist about his sexual attraction to children.[6]: 475
In 2018, the Court held that universities should protect students in the
References
- ^ People v. Poddar, 518 P.2d 342 (Supreme Court of California February 7, 1974).
- OCLC 156891897.
- ^ a b c Tarasoff v. Regents of University of California, 17 Cal.3d 425 (Supreme Court of California July 1, 1976).
- ^ Slovenko, Ralph (Spring 1960). "Psychiatry and a Second Look at the Medical Privilege". Wayne Law Review. 6: 175.
- PMID 11661846.
- ^ PMID 25492073.
- ISSN 0890-5738. Retrieved March 26, 2018.
- ^ "California Supreme Court rules alumna can sue UCLA for 2009 stabbing". dailybruin.com. Retrieved March 26, 2018.
External links
- Text of Tarasoff v. Regents of the University of California, 17 Cal. 3d 425, 551 P.2d 334, 131 Cal. Rptr. 14 (Cal. 1976) is available from: CourtListener Findlaw Google Scholar
- Extended summary: "Tarasoff v. The Regents of the University of California: Supreme Court of California, 1976". Archived from the original on December 20, 2014.