When does Calif law req Dr to breach confidentiality?
joeu2004
patient-doctor confidentiality?
For example, as I recall (correctly?), doctors must
report (to the DMV?) instances when a patient has
fainted (while operating a motor vehicle?).
Even if that's correct, I'm not sure if that applies only
to a doctor treating the condition at the time (i.e. at
the scene of any accident), or if it (also?) applies to
the patient's doctor when the patient tells his doctor
after the fact.
And that is only one situation that I seem to recall.
Are there others, too?
Code citations would be appreciated, if any.
I've tried to do a cursory search of the online codes
to no avail. I searched the VC, H&SC and B&PC.
Any tips on how I could do a better search myself
would also be appreciated. Currently, my access
to sources of law is limited. But with some direction,
I might be able to get into a law lib.
Bob La Londe
news:63ca9ce5-deb6-4481...@f18g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
> Any tips on how I could do a better search myself
> would also be appreciated. Currently, my access
> to sources of law is limited. But with some direction,
> I might be able to get into a law lib.
It may take some effort, but you most certainly should be able to get into a
law library, particularly if it is maintained with any public funds, such as
a separate section or building managed by your county public library. It
may take some convincing but if "your" money is used its not private. Been
there done that.
joeu2004
> "joeu2004" <joeu2...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> > Any tips on how I could do a better search myself
> > would also be appreciated. �Currently, my access
> > to sources of law is limited. �But with some
> > direction, I might be able to get into a law lib.
>
> It may take some effort, but you most certainly
> should be able to get into a law library
Sorry, my comment was ambiguous. I meant to say
that I am looking for some legal research "direction"
(tips) to make it worthwhile to go to a law lib.
It does take some effort; and without "direction",
I would be wasting my time searching aimlessly.
Basically, if a client came to you with this question
(e.g., "if I talk to my doctor about this blackout
episode, is my doctor required to report it?"),
how would you research the law on that point?
Or better still, if you already know the law, I'd
appreciate pointers to it.
mm
<joeu...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> Currently, my access
>to sources of law is limited. But with some direction,
>I might be able to get into a law lib.
When I lived in Brooklyn, it seemed that all the law schools in NYC
were private schools, and even students from other law schools had to
do more than show ID to use the library. Regular folk couldn't at
all, I think.
But in Baltimore, there are one or two public law schools and I've
been to the library of one of them, where I think anyone can go in.
(For years I thought I had sneaked in, but it suddenly occurred to me
that it was probably open to everyone.) I don't suppose I could check
books out (but what I wanted didn't circulate anyhow), and I didn't
ask what the procedure was for using the Lexis/Nexis computer. Not
sure if I could have used it or not; it needed a password to start.
In addition, the Baltimore County Courthouse has a law library that is
open to the public, although the first couple times I thought I was
sneaking in. (I chose a day I was dressed up more than normally so
they wouldn't notice me. ;) )
How many city and county courthouses have law libraries? I'll bet
most or a lot do. And I suppose they are all public.
Okay, what I just did is go to yp.yahoo.com (yp is for yellow pages)
and search for law library . I found more than I expected, some
private, some public, including neighboring county law libraries, and
some I'm not sure.
I like the phone book but yp.yahoo.com puts them in order of distance
from the location you enter. Very convenient for all kinds of
shopping, etc. And I'm pretty sure the phone book would list law
libraries amongst all the other libraries. Checking, I see that in
Baltimore the Yellow Pages book doesn't have a law library section and
the library section doesn't include any law libraries, but you could
check where you are. Categories aren't the same everywhere.
D.F. Manno
<63ca9ce5-deb6-4481...@f18g2000prf.googlegroups.com>,
joeu2004 <joeu...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> When does Calif law require doctors to violate
> patient-doctor confidentiality?
There's the Tarasoff ruling, in which a psychotherapist has a duty to
warn the intended victim(s) when a patient has communicated to the
psychotherapist a serious threat of physical violence against a
reasonably identifiable victim(s).
See California Civil Code 43.92.
--
D.F. Manno | dfm...@mail.com
Religion ... the only winning move is not to play!
Barry Gold
>When does Calif law require doctors to violate
>patient-doctor confidentiality?
I can't give you a definitive list, but here are some cases that I'm
aware of:
1. If there is a threat to commit a violent crime against a specific
victim. E.g., the patient says, "I'm going to go out and shoot John
Jones." The doctor, therapist, or counselor is required to notify the
police, so that they can tell Jones to protect himself, or put on
additional protection for him.
I don't think this applies to more generalized threats, e.g., "one of
these days I'm going to just lose it, grab a rifle, and go on a
rampage," or "I'm going to kill as man ****ing ayrabs as I can."
Since the patient hasn't identified a target or even a place, there
is no benefit to public safety from breaking confidentiality and I
think the doctor can (and is required to) keep his mouth shut.
2. Doctors, psychotherapists, nurses, counselors, teachers, social
workers and a few other categories are "mandated reporters". This
means that if they become aware of abuse of a child or elder -- or see
evidence of same -- they must report it to the appropriate
authorities. That would include:
. a patient mentioning that he has injured or molested a child or
elder.
. a child who shows up with bruises.
. a child who seems malnourished.
. a child or elder who shows other signs of neglect
. evidence that somebody caring for an elder is stealing from
him/her.
See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandated_reporter or Google for
"mandatory reporting"
--
Barry Gold, webmaster:
Conchord: http://www.conchord.org
Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society, Inc.: http://www.lasfsinc.org
Bob
wrote:
>In article
><63ca9ce5-deb6-4481...@f18g2000prf.googlegroups.com>,
> joeu2004 <joeu...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>> When does Calif law require doctors to violate
>> patient-doctor confidentiality?
>
>There's the Tarasoff ruling, in which a psychotherapist has a duty to
>warn the intended victim(s) when a patient has communicated to the
>psychotherapist a serious threat of physical violence against a
>reasonably identifiable victim(s).
>
>See California Civil Code 43.92.
Just to be clear, under California law, if the duty is triggered, the
therapist must *try* to warn the victim *and* report the threat to law
enforcement. In addition, the duty may be triggered even if the
threat is communicated by someone other than the patient. See Ewing
v. Goldstein, 120 Cal. App. 4th 807 (2004).
joeu2004
> �joeu2004 <joeu2...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> > When does Calif law require doctors to violate
> > patient-doctor confidentiality?
>
> There's the Tarasoff ruling, in which a
> psychotherapist has a duty to warn the
> intended victim(s) when a patient has
> communicated to the psychotherapist a
> serious threat of physical violence against
> a reasonably identifiable victim(s).
> See California Civil Code 43.92.
Thanks. I was generally aware of that principle,
although I did not know the specific citations.
I appreciate that.
But I was thinking of more benign things, where
the "threat" to others is less overt.
Perhaps my question was too general. More
specifically....
In Calif, is a physician required to report
medical "episodes" such as fainting or other
acute episodes that might impair a patient's
abilities, for example, temporary loss of
vision without loss of consicousness, or
debilitating chest pains such as those often
associated with stroke or heart attack?
(Perhaps limited to episodes that occur or
might occur while driving.)
I don't expect the law, if any, to be that
specific. But those examples might be reasonable
interpretations of such a law, perhaps supported
by case law.
I vaguely recall such legislation or regulation
in response to an accident that resulted in the
death of young children. The driver had severe
chest pains that caused him to lose control of
his car. That is why I suspect the law might
be specific to operating a motor vehicle.
mm
<joeu...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>When does Calif law require doctors to violate
>patient-doctor confidentiality?
A place to start would be the code section that requires
confidentiality in the first place, (or that prevents such
communications from being used in court).
An illustration and an aside: When wandering through the Maryland
statutes, I found that the statute which required medical
confidentiality listed I think only one exception, but a big one. The
exception applied, paraphrasing, in hearings to determine if someone
was to be committed to a mental hospital or not. Heck, I don't want
that and that's when I would most want what I said to the shrink to be
confidential.
(I also found the clerical? confidentiality statute and it had no such
exception. I guess I'd better make sure my therapist is also rabbi, so
he (and I) will be shielded by the statute.
This effectively means that in Maryland -- I don't know about other
states -- if I had serious mental problems, I could not be forthright
with any doctor because it could be used against me when I most didn't
want it to be.
It would be bad enough if the doc told my friends what a kook I am**,
but far worse if they were able to lock me up because of it. Even
society or its educated representatives would think that a good idea,
in most cases I wouldn't think so.
**I'm not really. No. I'm not. Really. Who said that? I know
you're there. Why is the computer talking to me? Who is in there?
No, I'm okay. Don't say that.
>Code citations would be appreciated, if any.
Sorry.
Roy
> In article
> <63ca9ce5-deb6-4481...@f18g2000prf.googlegroups.com>,
> joeu2004 <joeu...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>> When does Calif law require doctors to violate
>> patient-doctor confidentiality?
>
> There's the Tarasoff ruling, in which a psychotherapist has a duty to
> warn the intended victim(s) when a patient has communicated to the
> psychotherapist a serious threat of physical violence against a
> reasonably identifiable victim(s).
>
> See California Civil Code 43.92.
>
The California DMV requires doctors to report certain medical conditions
that affect a persons ability to drive.
http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/appndxa/hlthsaf/hs103900.htm
Samatha Hill -- take out TRASH to reply
>
> In Calif, is a physician required to report
> medical "episodes" such as fainting or other
> acute episodes that might impair a patient's
> abilities, for example, temporary loss of
> vision without loss of consicousness, or
> debilitating chest pains such as those often
> associated with stroke or heart attack?
Yes; they get reported to the DMV.
mm
FWIW, when I was 13 the doctor had decided I had epilepsy. My mother
asked him what to do when I was old enough for a driver's license. He
said "Don't tell them."
Of course this was Indiana, not California,
so it was probably okay. :)
And I never had epilepsy to begin with.