Tennessee § 33-3-206 - Duty to predict, warn or take precautions to provide protection — Liability.

§ 33-3-206. Duty to predict, warn or take precautions to provide protection — Liability.

IF AND ONLY IF a service recipient has communicated to a qualified mental health professional or behavior analyst an actual threat of bodily harm against a clearly identified victim, AND the professional, using the reasonable skill, knowledge, and care ordinarily possessed and exercised by the professional's specialty under similar circumstances, has determined or reasonably should have determined that the service recipient has the apparent ability to commit such an act and is likely to carry out the threat unless prevented from doing so, THEN the professional shall take reasonable care to predict, warn of, or take precautions to protect the identified victim from the service recipient's violent behavior. Acts 1989, ch. 549, § 1; T.C.A., § 33-10-302(a) ; Acts 2000, ch. 947, § 1; 2001, ch. 334, § 3; 2002, ch. 730, § 17. Textbooks. Tennessee Law of Evidence (2nd ed., Cohen, Paine and Sheppeard), §§ 501.7, 501.8. Law Reviews. Balancing Public Safety with the Rights of the Mentally Ill: The Benefit of a Behavioral Approach in Reducing Gun Violence in Tennessee, 45 U. Mem. L. Rev. 671 (2015).