An Overview of Jaffee vs Redmond
In 1995, a groundbreaking case called Jaffe vs. Redmond laid the foundation for confidentiality between therapists and patients. The case resulted from a dispute between two men that ended with an officer lethally assailing the aggressor and during the ensuing trial, said officer inadvertently helped to establish confidentiality rights while fighting to conceal her own medical history.
The Proceedings
The case involved a line of duty shooting that took place between Illinois Officer Mary Redmond and suspect Ricky Allen, whom Redmond fatally wounded, and revolved around the family’s excessive force complaint, which they filed on the grounds that the witness testimony differed from Redmond’s account. [1]
To
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Additionally, it expressed that deciding in Redmond’s favor will ultimately serve the public’s interest, as this hearing would set a precedent for similar cases in the future. The association further asserted that clients’ who confide with therapists expect that their revelations will remain private, and it is this trust that fosters the open communication that doctors need to heal patients. The APA felt that, at the end of the day, confidentiality outweighed any other matter at hand. They also believed that judges’ jurisdiction to decide confidentially matters individually did not provide the protection that patients needed to feel safe revealing potentially incriminating, but critical, information.
The APA’s interest in this matter was whether current federal law applied to doctor-patient confidentiality. By pursuing this issue, the organization sought to secure these rights on a federal level. The resulting decision strengthened the court’s resolve when hearing similar cases and changed how firms and organizations handle employee information and private, health-related issues.
How Jaffee Verses Redmond Changed Privacy
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[3] The web page cites how the Jaffee versus Redmond case forever solidified privacy rights between therapists and their clients. Prior to this hearing, the courts did not fully acknowledge this privilege and deemed withholding session information almost equivalent to an admission of guilt.
Although doctor-patient confidentiality is standard today, a caveat about this privilege is that it does not protect all statements made to therapists and only applies to regularly scheduled appointments. Additionally, if a patient reveals that they intend to harm someone, it is the therapist’s duty to report this fact to the proper authorities.
Complex Legal Issues Call for Educated Employees
The Jaffee-Redmond ruling heavily impacted how all organizations and firms deal with staff members’ rights. Today, the legal human resource environment requires that all key organizational professionals know and understand the laws affected by this case. Prospective job candidates who are well-versed in these laws and similar issues can outmaneuver less knowledgeable candidates. Training in current privacy laws are a valuable asset in several settings, such as:
• Healthcare organizations
• Human services
The Procunier case is whether the California Department of Corrections’ restriction on media-inmate interviews is constitutional or unconstitutional. The Supreme Court held that the California Department of Corrections ban was constitutional and did not violate the inmates’ rights of free speech. Furthermore, the regulation did not violate the media’s right to access information within a correctional Justice Douglas joined by Justice Brennan and Justice Marshall stated that the regulation violates the prisoners’ and the press’ First Amendment rights. However, Justice Stewart, Justice Burger, Justice Powell, Justice White, Justice Blackmun, and Justice Rehnquist stated in their dissent prohibiting face-to-face interviews was not unconstitutional and that restricting inmate visitation allowed inmates to communicate with people who could aid in their rehabilitation, but can be restricted when the security of the institution is at risk, referencing Chief Justice Warren in Zemel v. Rusk (Pell v. Procunier, n.d.). The court also stated that the media’s amendment rights were not violated.
...rt of the medical profession, the therapists are expected to maintain the confidentiality of their clients. A psychologist must be able to acquire a client’s trust in order to keep quality confidentiality amongst the two parties. Only on seriously occasions should the patient’s records be shared, under certain other conditions the psychotherapy records of a minor can be reviewed by others without prior written consent. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), psychologists can usually give way the patient records to parents or legal guardians. Some of the ethical rules that apply to the practice of child and adolescent psychiatry are clear and generally agreed upon For example, rules against sexual contact or harsh or abusive treatment are encoded as boundary violations. A psychotherapist must be able to respect the boundaries of the client.
University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. (2005, May 11). Workforce Privacy Training (HIPAA). Retrieved April 22, 2009, from Privacy/Data Protection Project: http://privacy.med.miami.edu/glossary/xd_workforce_training.htm
Without exception, confidentiality trumps duty to warn, court rules (2004). Mental Health Law Report, 22 (6), 53. Retrieved from http://find.galegroup.com/gtx/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T003&prodId=GRCM&docId=A120474886&source=gale&userGroupName=clemson_itweb&version=1.0
Arthur, G. L., & Swanson, C. D. (1993). Confidentiality and privileged communication. The ACA legal
Woodward, C. (2010). United States medical privacy rules deemed inadequate. Canadian Medical Association, 182(15), 1604-1605.
Over the course of their therapeutic relationship, Dr. Davenport violates client confidentiality as it is described by the American Counseling
In today’s society with the blogs, the gossip sites and the other forms of social media, confidentiality is a thing of the past. However, for, physicians and other health professionals, they are held to a higher standard to maintain a level of ethics and confidentiality for their patients. Confidentiality is a major duty for a health professional, but is there ever a time to where it is okay to tell what a patient says in confident? What if the patient is a minor, or a senior citizen or someone who is mentally challenged? What if a patient is being abused or wants to commit suicide? Does it matter if it is a nurse, or a dentist, or a psychologist or is all medical professional held to the same moral standard? What roles does a consent form or Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act plays in the medical world in being confidentiality? I would like to explore Confidentiality and the moral effects it has on the health profession.
However, there are some cases that professionals have to rely on the Law. The Law is different from moral principles and Code of Ethics and its focus is on the legal perspective to protect the professional. The Law is defined by Remley and Herlihy (2010) as “general or specific regarding both what is required and what is allowed of individuals who from a governmental entity” (p.4). One major example is the Tarasoff and the Duty to Protect which is a law that was created after the case that happened with a university student, Tatiana Tarasoff and her boyfriend. Tarasoff’s parents sue the psychotherapists alleging that the professionals should have warned the student. Because of this case, the law raised a major concern that the confidentiality that professionals should follow according to the ACA and AMHCA Code of Ethics has to be broken when there is an issue that can affect a third party in the situation. Like the AMHCA refers to confidentiality as “a right granted to all clients of mental health counseling services. From the onset of the counseling relationship, mental health counselors inform clients of these rights inclu...
Confidentiality will always be an important component in medical discussions, but confidentiality on the other hand is not a right and has to be stable against counter claims (Chalmers, 2003). Some arguments and facts that were used in the article were how are health care providers supposed to be able to correct the stability? Should overt content always be required from clients for any use of their health care information separately from the direct clinical care? The proof suggests that where the informed consent is needed completeness of health information hurts and unfinished health ...
All humans have some desire for privacy, but people have different boundaries to what information about them should be private. Problems arise with these widely varying definitions. What one person may define as a casual curiosity, another may define as a blatant invasion of privacy. Often, these disagreements find themselves in court rooms, and have been subjects of some of the most controversial court cases ever.
...y is not absolute and that the disclosure and justification of some individuals cases can potentially be successful. Moreover the person who disclosed the information will always be the person under scrutiny of the common law. Professionally, if the health care worker adhere to the policy it offers much protection for the topic of confidentiality and the correct attitude to retain information correctly.
...confidential information is shared without their permission, this situation can be detrimental to the client. The client may stop treatment or be passive-aggressive towards the therapist by being late of cancelling appointments with the clinician.
Tarasoff laws have been adopted across many U.S. states and have guided similar legislation in countries around the world” ("Revisiting Tarasoff | Psychology Today," n.d.). The case of Tarasoff gave rise to this ethical dilemma of confidentiality because of this case social policy, laws and regulations have changed how clinicians make ethical decisions in, regards to confidentiality. In terms of social policy and the law and how it pertains to confidentiality “The law suggests that a practitioner’s duty to take action to protect third parties, hinges on whether there is an actual threat; whether the danger to an intended victim is severe, real and imminent; and whether the victim is identifiable” (Kagle & Kopels, 1994). This as well as many other laws and social policies have been enacted because of the Tarasoff case one feels that laws are a big part of social polices so when I look at confidentiality in terms of social policy I often look at what the laws, legislature, statutes
Doctor patient confidentiality, is a fundamental element of the practice of medicine. Patients can expect that doctors and their support staff will hold confidential information about them in confidence, unless the release of the information is required by law or for public interest reasons. Ensuring confidentiality is retained allows doctors to examine their patients and receive all relevant information about their condition without a worry of judgement or sharing of the information.