22: Paul Appelbaum on Responsibility for Suicide or Violence on Campus

Psychiatric Services From Pages to Practice

Paul S. Appelbaum, M.D., joins Dr. Dixon and Dr. Berezin to discuss what degree of responsibility universities have to prevent student suicide or violence on campus.

This question was the focus of two recent state supreme court decisions, in Massachusetts and in California. Looking to legal rules that define when duties exist to protect third parties, both courts held that the unique aspects of the campus setting create a responsibility for universities to take reasonable steps to protect students from themselves and each other. Widening the scope of institutional liability in this way could encourage schools to overreact to students with mental health problems, making them less likely to come forward for treatment.

Dr. Appelbaum is the Elizabeth K. Dollard Professor of Psychiatry, Medicine and Law in the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University, New York City, and is editor of the Law & Psychiatry column in Psychiatric Services.

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