title: Responsibility of the therapist for the patients' actions (Tarasoff Rules): position of the psychiatrists.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Patient confidentiality and the therapists responsibility to society may present a challenge in the therapeutic relationship between the psychiatrist and the patient. We examined the attitudes of Israeli psychiatrists concerning the duty to warn and protect according to the Tarasoff Rule.
  
  
  METHODS
  Questionnaires to examine psychiatrists opinions concerning the implementation of the Tarasoff Rule in Israel were sent to senior psychiatrists involved in forensic psychiatry for anonymous completion.
  
  
  RESULTS
  108 (64%) questionnaires were returned. 61 (57%) replied that they encountered similar situations.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Thorough understanding of the Tarasoff Rule, clarification of the patients potential dangerousness, and timely deliberation of the issues will assist the therapist. Investigation of the medical consensus of senior physicians, as performed in our study, is also a point of reference for formulating an opinion.
authors: Lev Hasharon Mental Health Center, Netanya, Israel. ymelamed@post.tau.ac.il
authors: Yuval
authors: Y
authors: Melamed
authors: Evgenia
authors: E
authors: Or
authors: Dmitri
authors: D
authors: Rudinski
authors: Shlomit
authors: S
authors: Cohen
authors: Marc
authors: M
authors: Gelkopf
authors: Arturo
authors: A
authors: Lerner
authors: Avi
authors: A
authors: Bleich
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003219:Confidentiality / Q000941:ethics*; D003617:Dangerous Behavior; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations / Q000941:ethics*; D011570:Psychiatry / Q000941:ethics*