Court Opinion

ID: 9565743
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 19:26:41.808945+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:19:52.097968
License: Public Domain

STEWART, Justice
(concurring in part and dissenting in part).
I agree that this case should be reversed for a new trial for the reasons stated by the majority.
*1329However, I dissent from the majority’s view of the scope of the psychologist-patient privilege. The effect of the interpretation of that privilege is to make an invidious discrimination in the quality of psychological services available to a person who can afford to consult a private practitioner and the quality of service which lesser advantaged persons may receive when seeking the same services from a government sponsored institution.
Section 58-25-8, U.C.A. (1953), as amended, provides:
A psychologist licensed under the provisions of this act cannot, without the consent of his client or patient, be examined in a civil or criminal action as to any information acquired in the course of his professional services in behalf of the client. In other matters a licensed psychologist’s relationship with his client or patient shall be accorded the same privileged communication as the relationship between an attorney and his client.
The majority opinion holds that this provision should be strictly construed to protect only communications made to a “licensed psychologist,” and “should not be extended to any persons merely acting as agents for or under the direction of licensed psychologists, as defendant urges.” On that basis the majority accordingly affirms the admission of Mr. Fredrickson’s testimony which related damaging admissions made to Mr. Fredrickson by the defendant.
The majority opinion states that every evidentiary privilege has the effect of closing “another window to the light of truth” in the adjudicatory process. However, the majority does not contend, and I do not believe it to be the case, that the judicial search for truth has been unduly hampered by the various evidentiary privileges, some of which are of ancient origin and founded on the promotion of highly worthy values. That the search for truth in the judicial process is the first predicate of justice cannot be denied. But generally there is more than one source of evidence for any given fact. Certainly our society has not accepted the proposition that the judicial search for truth should override all instances where confidentiality and privacy support basic values of human life. To be sure, nondisclosure must be justified by powerful considerations, and although some evidentiary privileges rest on firmer foundations than do others, few privileges are supported by such weighty considerations as those that underlie the psychologist-patient privilege.
The policy underlying that privilege is rooted in the belief that individuals and society at large may be greatly benefited by fostering a sound therapeutic relationship in the interest of preserving families, enhancing individual development and growth, and allowing persons to deal with problems which might otherwise erupt into serious individual and societal difficulties, at least some of which would likely end up in the court system by way of divorces, crime, and juvenile delinquencies. The beneficial effects that may emerge from a therapeutic relationship cannot be fully achieved, and perhaps cannot be achieved at all, unless there is a trusting relationship between a psychologist and patient which is founded on a sense of complete confidentiality. Only on that basis are most persons willing to open up their innermost personalities and disclose the most private and sometimes painful aspects of their inner selves. At least in some measure, the privilege in question is supported by considerations similar to those that support the priest-penitent privilege, the doctor-patient privilege and the husband-wife privilege.
The importance of the evidentiary privilege at issue is underscored by the fact that a psychotherapist privilege, with which Section 58-25-8 is essentially concerned, may have some constitutional foundation. The California Supreme Court in In re Lifschutz, 2 Cal.3d 415, 85 Cal.Rptr. 829, 467 P.2d 557, 567 (1970) stated “We believe that a patient’s interest in keeping such confidential revelations from public purview, in retaining this substantial privacy, has deep*1330er roots than the California statute and draws sustenance from our constitutional heritage.” See also opinion of Justice Manderino in In re “B”, 482 Pa. 471, 394 A.2d 419 (1978). These decisions receive some support from the developing area of the privacy protected by the Constitution. See Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479, 85 S.Ct. 1678, 14 L.Ed.2d 510 (1965); Stanley v. Georgia, 394 U.S. 557, 89 S.Ct. 1243, 22 L.Ed.2d 542 (1969); Roberts v. Clement, 252 F.Supp. 835 (D.C.Tenn.1966); Finot v. Pasadena Board of Education, 250 Cal.App.2d 189, 58 Cal.Rptr. 520 (1967).
The issue which appears to be presented in the instant case is whether admissions made to a person who is not a licensed psychologist are nevertheless privileged. It is clear that the Psychologist’s Licensing Act, which contains the provision concerning privileged communications, was designed to assure the public that those who hold themselves out as psychologists are adequately trained and qualified to engage in the practice of psychology. The Act, however, specifically exempts from licen-sure a psychologist employed by a federal, state, county, municipal or chartered educational institution, see Section 58-25-6, U.C.A. (1953), as amended. The theory underlying this exemption is that such institutions can made valid judgments as to the competence of a psychologist to serve the public at large, without his having been licensed. In short, employment by such an institution may be tantamount to licensure depending upon the job description and training requirement of the psychologist.
To be licensed under the Psychologist’s Licensing Act, a person must have a decorate degree based on a program of studies “whose content was primarily psychological from an accredited educational institution.” Section 58-25-2, U.C.A. (1953), as amended. If a psychologist is employed by such an exempt institution, meets those qualifications, and his job description at the institution contemplates the performance of diagnostic or therapeutic functions, he should be viewed, so far as the privilege is concerned, in the same manner as a licensed psychologist. Of course, those services must be performed under circumstances in which a reasonable person would expect his disclosures to be held confidential.
Patients who consult psychologists at the exempted institutions should have the same right of privacy and confidentially as those who consult a private practitioner. To hold otherwise would tend to defeat the very purposes of the public institution in offering psychological services. Moreover, it is generally less affluent persons who seek assistance from public institutions. If those who seek help from public institutions are not assured of the necessary confidentiality, the assistance rendered will be less efficacious and perhaps of no help at all. Such a result is a loss generally to society and tends to discriminate against those using public institutions on a totally irrational and arbitrary basis. I do not believe the Legislature intended that result. The statute does not expressly preclude the rule as I have stated it; nor is it beyond the powers of this Court, which is charged with the responsibility of developing the common law, to fashion a rule to avoid caprice and arbitrariness.
Mr. Fredrickson testified that he was a clinical psychologist and that the admissions were made during an interview which Mr. Fredrickson characterized as a therapy session, although it does not appear that the defendant consulted Mr. Fredrickson on more than one occasion. Nor does it appear that Mr. Fredrickson held a Ph.D. degree from an accredited department of psychology. Further, it does not appear in the record whether Mr. Fredrickson performed his duties under the direct supervision of a licensed psychologist, and there is nothing in the record to indicate whether the institution for which Mr. Fredrickson worked was a public or privately-financed institution. Disclosures made to Mr. Fredrickson might still, however, be privileged. He worked with a licensed psychologist, but the *1331nature of that relationship is not clear. In any event, it should be noted that the majority statement that the privilege “should not be extended to [any] persons merely acting as agents for or under the direction of licensed psychologists . . . ” is not in all respects consistent with Section 58-25-8. The last sentence of that section provides: “In other matters a licensed psychologist’s relationship with his client or patient shall be accorded the same privileged communication as the relationship' between an attorney and his client.” Whether Mr. Fredrick-son’s relationship to the licensed psychologist employed at Four Corners Mental Health was of such a character as to justify application of the privilege depends upon an analogy to the attorney-client privilege, and especially whether Mr. Fredrickson was performing duties which were necessary to enable the licensed psychologist to render professional services whose content would be covered by the privilege.
MAUGHAN, J., concurs in the views expressed in the concurring and dissenting opinion of STEWART, J.