Physician-Patient Relationship Cases
Tarasoff v. UC Regents (1976)
Supreme Court
of California
Summary : In a wrongful death action against the Regents of the University of California, psychotherapists at a university hospital, and campus policemen, by parents of a girl who was killed by a man who had confided his intention to kill her to one of the therapists, the trial court sustained defendants' demurrers to the complaint without leave to amend and entered judgment in favor of defendants.
The Supreme Court affirmed
the judgment in favor of the police officers and reversed the judgment
in favor of the therapists and the regents. The court held that plaintiffs
could amend their complaints to state a cause of action against defendant
therapists by asserting that they had in fact determined that the daughter's
killer presented a serious danger of violence to her, or pursuant to
the standards of their profession should have so determined, but nevertheless
failed to exercise reasonable care to protect her from that danger.
This case established “The
Tarasoff Principle” which states that “If the counselor
knows or has reason to know of probable harm to another identifiable
person or the property of an identifiable person, a warning must be
issued if the client’s behavior cannot be controlled.”
Link to full text of the case
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