Publication Date
2000
Abstract
The Supreme Court recognized the federal psychotherapist- patient privilege in Jaffee v. Redmond and conditioned its application on the existence of a "course of diagnosis or treatment" within which a psychotherapist and patient exchanged confidential communications. The Court expressly precluded trial courts from conditioning privilege application on the favorable balance of a given patient's need for privacy over the extent of evidentiary harm likely to be caused by applying the privilege. Doubting the sufficiency of Jaffee's "course of diagnosis or treatment"condition to prevent abusive application of the privilege,the First Circuit Court of Appeals recognized the crime-fraud exception to the privilege in In re Grand Jury Proceedings (Gregory P. Violette). This Note examines the Violette decision and Jaffee's "course of diagnosis or treatment" condition in light of the rationale underlying the privilege. This Note contends that adherence to the Jaffee condition adequately protects the privilege from abusive application by denying protection to an individual who enters into a professional relationship with a psychotherapist for a non-therapeutic purpose. This Note favorably compares the construction of the Jaffee condition, "in the course of diagnosis or treatment," with a construction ignored by the Supreme Court but preferred by the First Circuit, "for the purposes of diagnosis or treatment." This Note also discusses procedure for appropriate application of the crime-fraud exception and suggests judicial contours for the privilege with respect to the "course of diagnosis or treatment"condition.
Recommended Citation
Kenney, Lynda W.
(2000)
"Role of Jaffee v. Redmonds "Course of Diagnosis or Treatment" Condition in Preventing Abuse of the Psychotherapist-Patient Privilege,"
Georgia Law Review: Vol. 35:
No.
1, Article 6.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.law.uga.edu/glr/vol35/iss1/6