MBE Rules · Evidence
Psychotherapist-patient privilege
Jaffee v. Redmond
The rule
Confidential communications between a licensed psychotherapist (including licensed social workers acting in a therapeutic capacity) and a patient made in the course of diagnosis or treatment are privileged in federal court. Held by the patient. Exceptions include patient-litigant (when patient puts mental condition at issue) and, in many jurisdictions, a dangerous-patient exception.
In plain English
Federal law recognizes a mental-health analog to attorney-client privilege. There is no general federal physician-patient privilege — that is a matter of state law, and many states recognize it in civil cases only with a patient-litigant exception.
The trap
The Federal Rules do NOT recognize a general doctor-patient privilege; only the psychotherapist branch was recognized in Jaffee.
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