The Texas Supreme Court speaks: mental health professionals have no duty to warn or protect third parties.
On June, 24, 1999, the Supreme Court of Texas held that a physician does not have a duty to warn a third party when a patient makes specific threats of harm toward a readily identifiable person. The 77th Texas legislative session that ended in the spring of 2001 did not address the Tarasoff duty to warn or protect a third party. Thus, the current holding in Texas allows that there is no Tarasoff duty to warn or protect a third party. This paper reviews that decision and identifies those occasions when a physician shall warn or may warn and to whom.
Scarano
Victor R
VR
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Baylor College of Medicine, 6560 Fannin #832, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
Baily
Cyndi M
CM
Banfield
James R
JR
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D017579:Domestic Violence; D017007:Duty to Warn / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D015658:HIV Infections; D006801:Humans; D035846:Law Enforcement; D019221:Mandatory Reporting; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D013781:Texas