Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Podcast #61: Stay Safe

Welcome to Podcast #61. We discussed the following topics:


In the Mid-Atlantic we had an earthquake and a hurricane this week, and Clink talks about her emotional response to the earth shaking. Somehow, we ended up talking about animal reactions.  If you want to read about how the elephants at our local zoo responded, click here.  


Roy talks about continued violations of mental health parity laws by insurers, and about URAC, a group he is associated with and has talked about before.


Finally, we discuss what psychiatrists do when patients commit crimes against them, such as stealing or manipulating prescriptions for controlled substances. Clink discussed the Menedez brothers and notes, "Once there is a threat (against the shrink), there is no confidentiality."
See also, Fully Charged Battery, a post Clink wrote in 2006.

Thank you for joining us!
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1 comment:

jesse said...

In the Tarasoff case, the essential point is that the doctor concluded that there was a threat to a third party, but then did not take appropriate action to deal with that threat. In the Menendez brothers case, the essence is that a threat to the doctor is not privileged communication. One could also argue that the older brother was not a patient and so his communication was not bound by doctor-patient confidentiality.

As to asking the malpractice risk-management lawyers, one caveat is to consider who, or what entity, are they protecting. They are paid by the company ultimately to protect against malpractice losses, and the doctor may need advice with a different focus.