RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Emerging Problems for Staff Associated with the Release of Potentially Dangerous Forensic Patients
JF Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online
JO J Am Acad Psychiatry Law
FD American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law
SP 309
OP 320
VO 16
IS 4
A1 Robert D. Miller
A1 Dennis M. Doren
A1 Greg Van Rybroek
A1 Gary J. Maier
YR 1988
UL http://jaapl.org/content/16/4/309.abstract
AB Mental health professionals have been concerned recently about their liability for the actions of patients in their outpatient practices. The history of suits against clinicians for negligent release of inpatients extends back several decades since before the Tarasoff decision. The authors suggest that the same consumerism/victims' rights trends that resulted in Tarasoff and its progeny are likely to rebound again on forensic clinicians and that such pressures are likely to add to other political and social pressures that already complicate the treatment of forensic inpatients. They present three cases to illustrate the dilemmas involved in the release of forensic patients and argue that clinicians must bear significant responsibility for their current plight because of overstated claims of capacities to predict and treat aggressive behavior.