Subpoenas

Question 1

-a legal term.
- it protects information that is shared between the client and the therapist from being shared in legal proceedings.
- The client is the one who holds the BLANK. If a lawyer subpoenas the client’s record,
the therapist can assert BLANK on behalf of the client if that is what the client wants the therapist to do. Ideally, the therapist should ask the client first and they can decide
whether they want us to release the record or assert BLANK on their behalf.
- The ability to assert BLANK allows us to withhold client information and medical
records when we receive a subpoena from a lawyer/attorney.
- There are limits to privileged information: If you receive a court order (may also be
phrased as “an order from the judge”, or a ”subpoena from the courts” or “subpoena
from a judge”), you cannot assert BLANK. Since it is coming from the court, BLANK
does not apply and we must comply with the order.

Answer 1

privilege

Question 2

A legal command issued by a judge/the courts. Unlike a subpoena from a lawyer/attorney, we cannot assert privilege for a BLANK.

Answer 2

Court Order (Subpoena From the Court or Judge):

Question 2

• is a formal written order and it can come from a lawyer/attorney or from the
  courts/a judge. A BLANK can be for written documents (the client record) or to appear in court (give testimony). How you respond to a BLANK will vary based on 1. who it is from and 2. what it is for.

Answer 2

subpoena

Question 3

1. Subpoena from the court/judge (court order) for the written record: you CANNOT
   assert privilege here. It is your legal responsibility to provide the information to the
   court, and you cannot use privilege to avoid that responsibility (privilege does not apply to court orders/orders from a judge).
   a. If you think the release could be damaging to your client, you can advocate for a limited release/no release of the record; however, if the
   court denies that request, you must provide them with everything they have asked for or else be held in contempt of court. And if you don’t have
   an answer option regarding advocating for the limited release due to fear of harm to the client, you should provide the information immediately.
   b. For the exam, this is not a situation where you will first notify the client. You will either be releasing the record or advocating on behalf of the client for limited release/confidentiality of the record.
2. Subpoena from a lawyer for records: The optimal FIRST/NEXT/INITIAL step in
   this situation is to contact the client to determine their wishes on how to respond to the subpoena. Remember that when you are asserting privilege, you are doing
   so on behalf of your client. So, you should first attempt to contact the client to
   find out their wishes. They may want you to release the record, or they may want you to assert privilege on their behalf.
   a. Keep in mind that ‘contacting the client’ or ‘contacting the client to determine their wishes’ are both okay answer options here. We would not,
   however, ‘contact the client to warn them of the pending release’ because in
   this scenario, there is no pending release (whether we are going to release the record or not is up to them).
   b. If contacting the client isn’t an option, or if you are unable to reach them, you can assert privilege on their behalf.
   c. One other answer option that is possible is to consult with your agency’s legal counsel. This is seen less commonly, but if it is an answer option (and
   you’re working at an agency) you can do this first, even before contacting the client to determine their wishes.
3. Subpoena for testimony: you CANNOT assert privilege here, since privilege refers
   to the provision of information (written record) only. In this scenario, you would
   FIRST/NEXT/INITIALLY want to obtain legal counsel since you cannot refuse the request to appear in court.
   a. Similar to court orders, this is not a situation where you would first notify the client. For purposes of the test, that will not be the correct answer for
   this scenario. It will be to consult with legal counsel, or to show up in court.

Answer 3

Here are 3 general guidelines to follow for questions regarding privilege on the exam: