Roth L H, Meisel A
Am J Psychiatry. 1977 May;134(5):508-11. doi: 10.1176/ajp.134.5.508.
The Tarasoff decision, by imposing on psychiatrists an obligation to warn the intended victim of threats made by a patient, but only under certain vaguely specified circumstances, may stampede psychiatrists into issuing such warnings to avoid possible legal liability no matter how remote the risk of harm may actually be. The authors suggest that the ill effects of such a reaction by psychiatrists--breach of confidentiality and the attendant erosion of trust and harm to the therapeutic alliance--can often be easily avoided by taking less drastic steps, some of which are illustrated by case presentations.
塔萨夫判决要求精神科医生有义务向患者威胁的预定受害者发出警告，但仅在某些模糊规定的情况下，这可能会促使精神科医生匆忙发出此类警告，以避免可能的法律责任，无论实际伤害风险有多小。作者认为，精神科医生的这种反应所带来的不良影响——违反保密原则以及随之而来的信任侵蚀和对治疗联盟的损害——通常可以通过采取不那么极端的措施轻松避免，其中一些措施通过案例展示进行了说明。
