Opinion ID: 1281880
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Ethical Obligation to Violate Confidentiality Distinguished.

Text: The trial court below was persuaded that psychotherapists have an ethical obligation to divulge a patient's confidences whenever it might be possible to render aid to a victim of the patient's violence. It is important to distinguish between the evidentiary privilege which is claimed by a patient, or a psychotherapist in behalf of a patient (OEC 504(3)), to prevent disclosure of confidential information at trial, and the discretionary authority of a public health care provider [8] or any ethical obligation that a licensed psychotherapist may have to notify the police or other proper authority in order to aid a victim or warn of future dangerousness. The public interest to be served by notifying the police, in most cases, could be achieved by divulging only that information needed to show why a clear and immediate danger is believed to exist. It would rarely justify the full disclosure of the patient's confidences to the police, and never justify a full disclosure in open court, long after any possible danger has passed. See generally Slovenko, Psychiatry and a Second Look at the Medical Privilege, 6 Wayne L.Rev. 175, 197-98 (1960). The legislature specifically provided an exception to the attorney-client privilege for client's communications about future crimes (OEC 503(4)(a)), but failed to do so for the psychotherapist-patient privilege. This suggests that the legislature has struck the balance in favor of protecting communications to psychotherapists, even when harm is threatened, probably for the same reason that persuaded the committee who drafted the similar federal rule: [T]he assumption [is] that less harm will [occur] if patients feel free to ventilate their intentions. 2 Weinstein & Berger, supra, at 504-24. [9]