Malpractice in Psychology

Psychologists cannot escape being sued, warns Shapiro (psychology, Nova Southeastern U.) and Smith (law, California Western School of Law), but they can minimize the risk of being successfully sued and reduce the likelihood of facing a malpractice claim if they understanding the legal bases for liability and specific areas and situations that give rise to practice liability. They cover both in this text, briefly describing the relevant tort liability law, with a focus on negligence, and then offering individual chapters on the professional relationship and consent, confidentiality and privacy, negligent diagnosis and treatment, violence and threats of violence, other areas of liability (e.g. sexual misconduct, nontraditional therapies, civil right liability, pharmaceuticals, etc.), the trial process and privileges, and risk management strategies. Annotation c2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)