Ewing v. Northridge Hospital Medical Center

Opinion

BOLAND, J.

SUMMARY

As a general rule, a mental health practitioner has no duty to warn third persons about, nor any duty to predict, a patient’s dangerous propensities. This rule is subject to an important exception: when a patient has “communicated to the psychotherapist a serious threat of physical violence against a reasonably identifiable victim,” the psychotherapist must take reasonable steps to warn the victim and a law enforcement agency of the threat. (Civ. Code, § 43.92, subds. (a), (b) (section 43.92).)

In this action, the parents of a victim killed by a mental patient sued for…