When the Patient Threatens Violence: An Empirical Study of Clinical Practice after Tarasoff

The Tarasoff decisions have enunciated a new duty for psychotherapistsa duty to possible victims of potentially violent patients. This duty apparently complicates, and possibly undermines, the treatment of a class of patients already extraordinarily difficult to treat. Breach of the Tarasoff duty has been held to create a cause of action in only four states. Nevertheless, many psychiatrists elsewhere believe the Tarasoff decision will be used as a guideline for assessing whether, should violence occur, a therapist's behavior met the standard of good medical practice. Therefore, the question of whether Tarasoff makes clinical sense continues to concern psychiatrists.