Double Agentry Flashcards
Double agentry
Double agentry occurs when a psychiatrist has a conflict of interests that interferes with their ability to act soley in the best interests of the patient. In fact psychiatrists often find themselves acting in the interests of several parties (e.g. patient, family, society, hospital commsisioners etc) and this is refered to as multiagency.
This is illustrated by the Tarasoff case in which two therapists failed to warn a lady that their patient expressed an intention to kill her. They chose not to do so as they wished to respect confidentiality and failed to see that they had a duty of care to the lady as well as the patient. The lady was eventually murdered by this patient.
This case occured in California and resulted in a chage in the law stating that therapists have a legal duty to both patients and potential victims.
