Health and human services professionals have a role in protecting patient confidentiality. However, Tarasoff case changed the way human services professionals maintain the confidentiality of their patients or clients significantly because it led to the enactment of laws that require therapists to protect the potential victims from any serious harm posed by their clients. The case is mainly based on the incident where Prosenjit Poddar killed Tatiana Tarasoff because the latter rejected the former after they had a relationship ( Ginsberg, 2014) . Poddar informed his therapist that he would kill Tarasoff, and he ended up actualizing his intention. The case changed the way human services professionals treat confidential information provided by their clients.
Specifically, to effectively respond to a crisis, human services professionals are now required to protect possible victims from harm that even if it means breaching the confidentiality of their clients or patients. At the same time, the professionals now have the legal obligation to protect their clients from self-harm ( Ginsberg, 2014) . The case now allows human services professionals to violate the confidentiality requirements in potentially life-threatening circumstances ( Adi & Mathbout, 2018) . Besides, in states that have not passed the Tarasoff law, human services professionals now have the discretion the seriousness of the threat being posed by their patients and take appropriate measures to protect other people from potential dangers. Therefore, based on the Tarasoff case, human services professionals now have to provide the necessary information in the times of crisis.
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Nevertheless, the case resulted in a controversial debate among health and social workers, especially concerning patient confidentiality. Opponents of Tarasoff maintain that patient confidentiality is critical because lack of it can make clients lose trust in their service providers. Also, it may be challenging for therapists to determine the seriousness of the threat. Thus, the Tarasoff case changed the work of human services professionals.
References
Adi, A., & Mathbout, M. (2018). The Duty to Protect: Four Decades After Tarasoff. American Journal of Psychiatry Residents' Journal , 13 (4), 6-8.
Ginsberg, B. (2014). Tarasoff at thirty: Victim's knowledge shrinks the psychotherapist's duty to warn and protect. Journal Contemporary Health Law & Policy, 21 (1) , 1-36.
