Word: lifschutz
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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When he received a subpoena last year that summoned him to give a deposition in San Francisco, Psychiatrist Joseph Lifschutz did not hesitate to comply. But when he was asked to testify about his treatment of Joseph Housek, a former patient, Lifschutz demurred. The law, he declared, should not force him to betray even the existence of a patient-therapist relationship, much less what it involved. As a result, Lifschutz was ultimately found in contempt of court and sentenced to jail until he agreed to answer...
...Lifschutz protested, relying on a battery of arguments, including a claim that the Constitution gives psychotherapists an absolute right not to disclose, regardless of their patients' wishes. Moreover, Lifschutz argued, the patient cannot make an informed waiver of his rights-he may not know what his doctors will say about him. Worse still, said Lifschutz, a psychiatrist's testimony might well torment his patient and destroy the treatment process...
...nature of the injuries which the patient-litigant himself has brought before the court." In such cases, it suggested, patients should attempt to "delimit" the nature of their mental distress in advance, so that courts can bar questions that delve unnecessarily into "specific intimate factual circumstances." On that basis, Lifschutz decided to talk...
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