Students' mental state is confidential

[question everything]

This story was published in the WSJ several weeks ago, but I find it relevant these days - qe.

The Wall Street Journal

March 24, 2007

After a Suicide, Privacy on Trial
A jury weighs whether Chuck Mahoney's college should have told his parents more
By ELIZABETH BERNSTEIN
March 24, 2007; Page A1

As Charles and Debi Mahoney watched six men and six women file into the jury box of a Pennsylvania courtroom one evening last August, they clutched hands and tried to remind themselves why they were in court. "Parents sending their kids off to college need to know that their kids aren't safe when they think they are," Mr. Mahoney recalls thinking at the time.

More than four years earlier, their 20-year-old son, Chuck, had hanged himself with his dog's leash in his fraternity house at Allegheny College, in Meadville, Pa. At their son's funeral, the Mahoneys learned that his friends and ex-girlfriend had repeatedly warned college administrators and counselors during his last days that Chuck was a danger to himself. The officials and his college therapist had discussed his crisis -- but no one had alerted the family.

His parents sued for wrongful death in 2003, alleging that Allegheny should have taken more action at the end -- such as breaking their son's confidentiality to get them involved. One of Chuck's fraternity brothers who tried to alert school officials, Michael Fischer, testified that seeing his friend's last days "was like watching a car accident .... We knew something was going to happen. We had to try to stop it." The college maintained that Chuck was never an imminent risk for suicide, so his confidentiality couldn't be breached. He was an adult and insisted the school shouldn't call his parents about his problems, college officials testified. They said violating his privacy would have worsened his situation, and that his parents should have shown more active concern, especially after their son was hospitalized as a suicide risk in his sophomore year. They said Chuck's parents should have gotten their son to sign a waiver sent to all students that would have allowed the college to discuss his situation with the family.


(snip)

Since 1974, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act has protected the educational records of students, including those in college, allowing school officials to notify parents in a "health or safety emergency." At the same time, the therapist-patient privilege is considered crucial to psychotherapy because trust is essential to the process.

In court, Ms. Kearney emphasized that Mr. Mahoney failed to sign the waiver that the school said would allow it to release the federally protected information and discuss any other concerns with parents. She pointed out that Allegheny had sent a letter to the Mahoneys, as it did to all parents, explaining the waiver and asking them to discuss it with their child. The Mahoneys acknowledge they never discussed that waiver with their son. They said they were familiar with the federal privacy regulation from their own jobs -- she is a high school guidance counselor, he is a schools superintendent -- and they didn't think it was necessary to press him to sign. "To me, it just dealt with academics," Mrs. Mahoney says. "He always showed us his grades anyway." The Mahoneys also say they always had an open relationship with their son and talked with him almost every day. Even without a waiver, the Mahoneys point out, the privacy regulation allows schools to contact parents -- as long as they deem there is an emergency.

(snip)

In Pennsylvania, 10 of 12 votes is sufficient for a civil verdict. The jury voted 11-1 for the defendants. In interviews, many jurors said that as an adult, Mr. Mahoney was responsible for his own actions. They believed his parents should have recognized how sick their son was after he was hospitalized, and that they had a responsibility to make sure he signed the waiver form that would have freed the school to more easily share information. "If I am flipping the bill for college, you are signing the waiver," says Tom Yoder, 43, a tool-and-die maker. The lone dissenting juror, Barbara Collins Zurovchak, felt the suicide warnings required action. "I believe that safety must trump privacy," the retired high-school teacher says.

(snip)


URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117470447130847751.html (subscription)

[aquart]

1. Privacy isn't the issue. Adequate health care is the issue.

[question everything]

2. What is adequate mental health?

We really don't want to lock every one out for life... if we can diagnose and treat them, right?