title: The fin de millénaire duty to warn or protect.
abstract: At the turn of the millennium, the authors summarize the evolution of a clinician's duty to protect third persons from a patient's violent acts over the past half century, with special emphasis on jurisprudential developments in the last decade. Four evolutionary periods are identified: Pre-Tarasoff, Inception, Diversification, and Retreat. The period of Retreat from Tarasoff in the nineties is characterized by the following approaches to Tarasoff: adoption, statutory containment, rejection of a duty to warn, rejection of a duty to control voluntary patients, and proactive circumscription of any protective duties. A more rational jurisprudential approach would permit some measure of flexibility for the proper exercise of clinical discretion.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Southern Illinois, University School of Medicine and Chester Mental Health Center, 62233-0031, USA.
authors.forename: A R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Felthous
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kachigian
mesh_terms: D017007:Duty to Warn / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D005544:Forecasting; D005555:Forensic Psychiatry / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D006801:Humans; D016365:Liability, Legal; D012307:Risk Factors; D014754:Violence