Liability and mental health services.

Under the current tort-malpractice system, mental health malpractice claims often harm defendants' reputations, disrupt relationships among providers, and breach patient confidentiality. Common areas of malpractice, together with difficulties in defining the standard of care and proving causation, are examined. Reform proposals involving the options of interdisciplinary compensation panels or binding arbitration are designed to protect plaintiff privacy, reduce time and cost of litigation, and increase satisfaction with the dispute resolution process.