Citation

Scarano VR, Baily CM, Banfield JR. Tex. Med. 2002; 98(11): 61-64.

Affiliation

Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Baylor College of Medicine, 6560 Fannin #832, Houston, TX 77030, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2002, Texas Medical Assn)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

12448958

Abstract

On June, 24, 1999, the Supreme Court of Texas held that a physician does not have a duty to warn a third party when a patient makes specific threats of harm toward a readily identifiable person. The 77th Texas legislative session that ended in the spring of 2001 did not address the Tarasoff duty to warn or protect a third party. Thus, the current holding in Texas allows that there is no Tarasoff duty to warn or protect a third party. This paper reviews that decision and identifies those occasions when a physician shall warn or may warn and to whom.

Language: en