Tarasoff

Tarasoff is commonly used as a verb in the context of warning someone about danger. Indeed, the duty to warn exists, but before discussing that, it is beneficial to review the history and where Tarasoff comes from.

History

The case Tarasoff v. Regents of the University of California was driven by a series of events that occurred at UC Berkeley in 1969. Prosenjit Poddar was a graduate student who saw a clinician at UC Berkeley. His friend had encouraged him to go because he was concerned about Poddar's obsession with a 19 y/o undergraduate named Tatianna Tarasoff. Although Poddar was once a productive graduate student, at the time he saw the clinician he was spending a large amount of his time listening to secret recordings he had made of conversations with Tarasoff. Poddar and Tarasoff had met a year earlier at a folk dance but had no more involvement than some flirtation.

Poddar told the clinical psychologist he was seeing that he was going to kill a girl, whom he did not name, but was identifiable. The psychologist wrote a letter to Berkeley police telling them of Poddar's desire, but the police did not do anything after Poddar agreed to stay away from Tarasoff. No one warned Tarasoff or her family of the threat and a few months later Poddar killed her.

Poddar was convicted of second-degree murder, in part because of his mental state. This conviction was overturned, and the prosecutor struck a bargain so that Poddar would return to India and not come back to the U.S. He went to India and subsequently married.

Without going through the specific basis of the case, the court found that mental health care professionals have a duty to warn, protect, and predict. This is important. Contrary to popular belief, the duty is NOT discharged just by warning.

Thus, based on California Civil Code §43.92:

The duty is:

• to warn and to protect and
• to predict

A psychotherapist has the duty to warn, to protect, and to predict only when:

• a patient has communicated to the psychotherapist
• a serious threat of physical violence
• against a reasonably identifiable victim or victims

A psychotherapist fulfills the duty by making reasonable efforts to communicate the threat

• to the victim or victims and
• to the police

(derived from Essentials of California Mental Health Law )