An Unexpected Visitor

Eitan was about as normal as they come. Or, at least that’s what he told me when he booked an appointment after being referred by his sister, who was a neighbor of mine.

He was a real estate lawyer, was makpid about learning daf yomi, and lived in Raanana with his family. It certainly sounded normal.

And “normal” was the word that kept on coming up as we exchanged emails before our initial meeting. As an attorney, Eitan was quite nervous about scheduling his appointment, concerned as he was about issues of confidentiality and of course mandated reporting. But when the word “normal” came up for the seventh time, I began to have my concerns that maybe something else was going on, given his extreme obsession with confidentiality.

Having been in this business for a while now, I was pretty good at recognizing a red flag. While patients certainly have legal rights to their privacy, healthcare professionals — similar to police officers, teachers, and clergy members — are bound by an ethical code and a legal responsibility to protect their patients and the lives of others in certain situations. That means that if, for example, a patient is acutely abusive to children, there is likely a responsibility to contact child welfare organizations. Should a patient become suicidal, contacting family members or emergency services may be necessary. If a patient is homicidal or threatening other individuals, calling the police is a potentially lifesaving legal responsibility.