Who Is the Client and Who Controls Release of Records in a Forensic Evaluation? A Review of Ethics Codes and Practice Guidelines

“Coping with subpoenas”: No longer consistent with law, ethics, or social policy.

“…Privilege 1 and confidentiality 2 are closely overlapping concepts. Because of this, few people understand the differences (Borkosky, 2014, p. 282; Borkosky & Smith, 2015, p. 22). For example, privilege laws regulate the legal system, not psychologists 3 (Broun et al, 1999).…”

“….” (Broun et al, 1999, p. 115). The reason privilege is important to psychologists is that the only time a psychologist can ethically support a patient’s right to keep their information private is at the time a request for disclosure (to the legal system) is made (Borkosky, 2014, p. 274; Borkosky & Smith, 2015).…”

“…Thus, psychologists may still be required to disclose the records to the patient (via either HIPAA or state disclosure laws). The patient retains an independent right to access her records, outside of the legal system (Borkosky, 2014, p. 274).…”

Civil Forensic Evaluation in Psychological Injury and Law: Legal, Professional, and Ethical Considerations

“…In this article, we examine the legal, ethical, and professional issues relevant to each step in the process of dealing with psychological injury cases. In these regards, we use as guidance the American Psychological Association (APA) Ethical Principles and Professional Code of Conduct (EPPCC) (APA, 2017) and the Specialty Guidelines for Forensic Psychology (SGFP) (APA, 2013), which are sources that provide not only fundamental ethical standards as they apply to forensic work, but also specific guidance about how those principles should be applied in psychology and law settings, including those in the area of psychological injury and law (Borkosky, 2014;Pirelli, Beattey, & Zapf, 2017;Young, 2014aYoung, , 2016aYoung & Drogin, 2014). The SGFP is an aspirational document designed to provide a measure of "best practices" for forensic practitioners.…”