Homework Question on Ethical and Professional Issues
- Describe a crisis intervention case in relation to two ethical issues. For example, discuss crisis intervention and confidentiality, discuss the Tarasoff Case, and provide some opinion of how you think this was handled by authorities and regents of the University, or discuss crisis intervention and counter transference.
- One could also research the crisis intervention that was provided to the people who witnessed the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and others, in Tucson, Arizona, on January 8, 2011.
- What agencies stand out in providing intervention? Research and share your findings.
Homework Answer on Ethical and Professional Issues
Crisis intervention in mental health gives mental health professionals the right to breach the confidentiality of the information they receive from their clients (Corey, Corey and Callanan 225). However, in other medical instances, crisis intervention does not give medical practitioners the rights to breach the confidentiality of the information they receive from their clients. For example, crisis intervention in HIV/AIDS does not give medical practitioners the rights to breach the confidentiality of the information they receive from HIV/AIDS victims.
With regard to mental cases, Tarasoff case is a good example of what crisis intervention means, but it is also a good example of what might happen when it is unclear what should happen after the intervention. In this case study, Dr. Moore who was the university’s mental health professional at the time Poddar killed Tarasoff had done exactly what the law stated when he recommended for the detention of Poddar (Lo 296).
However, after sometimes Poddar had been released on the ground that his mental condition had improved. From an ethical and legal viewpoint, is the university to blame for what happened thereafter? I think the university was to blame because even if Poddar had been detained at the university’s police facility, the university had not informed Tarasoff and her family about the possible harm that Poddar was likely to cause on Tarasoff.