Malpractice Lawsuits

The human services professional has both an ethical and a professional responsibility. For example, the NASW (National Association of Social Workers) Code of Ethics establishes that profession's accepted principles of ethics. In terms of professional responsibilities, the courts have established that practitioners must meet the standard of what a reasonable professional would do under similar circumstances.

Malpractice occurs when a professional's failure to perform his or her responsibilities results in injury or loss to a client. Malpractice is considered a form of negligence, a violation of a client's rights. The client's rights may be violated by commission or omission. Acts of commission are defined as misfeasance or malfeasance. Misfeasance involves doing a proper act in a wrongful or injurious manner. Malfeasance involves doing an unlawful or wrongful act. Nonfeasance involves omission, the failure to perform certain duties (Reamer, 1995, p. 595).

For a malpractice claim to be valid, four elem

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rotect potential victims was rendered in the 1976 California Supreme Court decision in Tarasoff v. Board of Regents of the University of California. The case involved a UC Berkeley student, Prosenjit Poddar who, during the course of voluntary outpatient treatment at the student health service, informed his counselor Moore that he intended to kill an unnamed woman student. Moore, a psychologist, requested the assistance of the campus police with a phone call and a followup letter. Moore's contact with the police was made after consultation with fellow mental health professionals. Poddar was taken into custody by the police, but released. True to his threat, Poddar murdered the woman student shortly thereafter. Although the woman was not initially identified by Poddar, it was apparent to all concerned that his intended victim was Tatiana Tarasoff, a student who was vacationing in Brazil at the time of Poddar's psychological counseling. Tarasoff's parents subsequently sued the University for failing to notify them or the victim of Poddar's threat. A lower court ruled against the parents, but on appeal the California Supreme Court ruled in their favor, claiming that the University professionals had acted irresponsibly: "Th
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Approximate Word count = 2438
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)

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