Tarasoff Warnings

To the Editor: In the article by Huber and associates (1) in the June 2000 issue about police experience with Tarasoff warnings, the authors concluded that "calling the police may not always be the best way to protect potential victims from threatening patients." Their conclusion comes as no surprise. In the Tarasoff case, which in the 1970s established the duty to protect potential victims, the therapist of the threatening patient turned to the police, who interviewed and then released the patient, setting the stage for Ms. Tarasoff's subsequent murder (2).

Dr. Leeman is clinical professor of psychiatry and faculty associate in the division of humanities in medicine at the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn.