According to a report in South Africa:
"Mental health providers in Texas are not obligated to warn anyone about
threats made by their patients, the state Supreme Court ruled last month.
Associated Press reported that the court ruled on a case from Houston in
which Freddy Ray Lilly, a Vietnam veteran who had been diagnosed with post-
traumatic stress disorder, told his psychiatrist in 1988 he 'feels like killing' his
stepfather, Henry Zezulka.
Renu K. Thapar, the psychiatrist, failed to tell the family about the threat.
Within a month, Lilly carried out the killing, shooting Zezulka in the face.
This finding contradicts the much cited Tarasoff case, in which a psychologist,
who had failed to inform a potential victim of a threat by a client, was found
guilty of negligence following the murder by the client of the person against
whom the threat was made.
Zezulka's widow reportedly sued Thapar for negligence, claiming treatment
records showed Lilly sometimes felt homicidal and that the family or law
enforcement should have been told of the threats.
The charges brought against the psychiatrist also said he was negligent in
releasing Lilly from the hospital without seeking to have him involuntarily
committed. Thapar, who treated Lilly for three years with psychotherapy and
drugs, diagnosed him with other problems as well, including alcohol abuse,
paranoid and delusional beliefs concerning his stepfather and people of certain
ethnic backgrounds, according to court records.
But the court ruled that disclosing the threat to the Zezulkas would have
violated state confidentiality laws. With only a few exceptions, the law
prohibits mental-health professionals from disclosing information disclosed by
patients to third parties.
The court found that Thapar was prohibited from warning one of his pasient's
potential victims as no exception in the law allows for disclosure to third parties
threatened by the patient. As for notifying law enforcement, such disclosure is
allowed but not required, the court added."
Does this reflect the true state of affairs? Has there been any response to this
decision?
Regards from this side of the ocean.
Dap Louw
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DAP LOUW, PH.D., PH.D.
HEAD: CENTRE FOR BEHAVIOURAL SCIENCES
PROFESSOR: DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY
UNIVERSITY OF THE FREE STATE
P.O. BOX 339
BLOEMFONTEIN
9300 SOUTH AFRICA TEL: INTL + 51 + 4012444
FAX: INTL + 51 + 447-5719
EMAIL: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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