Psychiatry and the dangerous patient--problem: breach of confidentiality.

Malpractice in the field of psychiatry underscores the legal and ethical conflicts between the patient's right to confidentiality of communications and the physician's duty to protect an individual or society from possible harm at the hands of his patient. There are three criteria used currently to predict violent behavior. None are clear-cut and neither the courts nor professional societies offer the practitioner much protection. The author suggests some courses of action for the psychiatrist to minimize the risk of malpractice.