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Interesting:

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/07/25/packaged-warning-psychiatrist-protocol-when-receiving-threats-from-patients/

Psychiatrists who knowingly do not notify authorities when receiving this kind of information are subject to civil suits as well as disciplinary action from licensing authorities, Ablow said.

If a person is named in a patient’s threat, psychiatrists are required to go one step further. In a Supreme Court of California case known as the Tarasoff case, a patient had confided with a psychiatrist that he had intentions of killing a girl he had been stalking. While the psychiatrist contacted the police about detaining his patient, he did not notify the woman herself, and she was later stabbed and killed by the patient.

The Tarasoff case ruling set a precedent that mental health professionals would be required to notify people who had been specifically named by their patients as targets for harm.

“If it’s a named victim, that person has to be alerted,” Ablow said. “If James Holmes had said these three people by name are intended, even if [his psychiatrist] did tell police, [they] still have to alert the people named and tell them this person has said he intends to take your life.”

“So the first question: Was this his psychiatrist?” Ablow added. “If it was… if he thought this would constitute a significant threat, he would have been required to put Holmes in a locked psychiatric unit even if it required police intervention.”

However, First noted that it can sometimes be difficult to determine whether or not something a patient says in confidence is a significant danger or if it’s just expressing thoughts that they can’t say to anyone else.

My son at one point of his career worked as a social worker with the homeless mentally ill. Twice the police notified him he was a “named Person” and to get out of town until the threat was in custody.

Even though laws are in place nothing can keep them in an institution for very long until after they've committed a major crime Usually they are turned out on the steets as homeless. ....

If a person is named in a patient’s threat, psychiatrists are required to go one step further. In a Supreme Court of California case known as the Tarasoff case, a patient had confided with a psychiatrist that he had intentions of killing a girl he had been stalking. While the psychiatrist contacted the police about detaining his patient, he did not notify the woman herself, and she was later stabbed and killed by the patient.

If I'm a psychiatrist, and a patient says he's going to kill "Jane Smith", how the hell am I supposed to find out Jane's contact info? Tell my homicidal patient "I'm supposed to report you to the police, could you please give me Jane's phone# so I can warn her too?" Is the psych supposed to retain his own detective agency? It should be the police's job.