Thought Experiment

  • Therapist meets patient with drinking disorders
  • Patient tells a story of a incident where she was drunk, and paid the delivery driver in sex instead of money
  • They next day, the patient calls the police to say that she was assaulted
  • The delivery driver was arrested, and sent to court, then he ended his own life
  • Therapist wants to decide what to do with this information, should she inform the police about this woman? Or should she keep it to herself

Answers

Tell the Police

  • Telling the police would provide her more help potentially
  • Telling the police will alert the police of more incidents if she does this again

Keep it to Yourself

  • The therapist is responsible for keeping confidentiality
  • This death is an outlier, this usually doesn’t happen
  • As a drunk person, she cannot really consent
  • Police could find her as a perpetrator, and prosecute her