SANTA ANA FAMILY JUSTICE CENTER/COUNTY OF ORANGE SOCIAL SERVICES AGENCY

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TARASOFF WARNING The Tarasoff decision deals with responsibility of the psychotherapist to warn victims of potential violence by clients. Simply stated, this means that the psychotherapist -patient privilege is overshadowed by the therapist's responsibility to warn an intended victim. General legal requirements for Tarasoff warnings: 1. The duty to wain arises when the therapist determines, or pursuant to standards of the profession should determine, that the patient presents a serious danger to another. If a patient threatens physical violence against someone, the threat must be a serious one and the victim or victims must be reasonably identifiable. Some examples of when a victim is "reasonably identifiable" include: a) the victim is specifically named by patient (ex. Bob Smith of 123 Sesame Street); b) the victim is easily identifiable by their relationship to the patient (ex: my mother, brother, employer, colleague, competitor, etc.); or c) other easily recognizable trait (ex.: the Mayor, my congressman, the anchor for the Channel 22 5 p.m. news hour). In order to discharge the duty to warn, the therapist must make reasonable efforts to communicate the threat to the victim or victims and must notify a law enforcement agency. Persons to be notified in a Tarasoff situation must include the intended victim and the police. The therapist must take all necessary steps to warn the victim of the circumstances such as attempting to contact the potential victim by telephone and/or letter. This may include telling other persons who are in a position to warn the victim. It is reasonable to provide the name and address of the client making the threats and the nature of the violence the client has threatened. It is not permissible to provide the police or the victim access to confidential patient records without a valid court order. Serious consideration should be given to initiating a 72-hour involuntary evaluation hold pursuant to Welfare & Institutions Code 5150. Once a decision has been made as to how the situation will be handled clinically, it should be documented. The therapist needs to document what information was disclosed, to whom, when and why. The name and location of the law enforcement agency contacted and the name and badge number of the officer must also be documented. A written incident report must always be completed by clinical staff and distributed through appropriate channels when a Tarasoff warning has taken place. This report would include the name ,of the staff member issuing the warning, the name of the supervisor and any other persons involved in the decision, as well as the circumstances surrounding the warning. The report must indicate that: 1. The patient communicated to the therapist a threat of physical violence. 2. The threat was serious. 19