Maine Revised Statutes Title 32 Sec. 6207-C – Duty to warn and protect
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1. Duty. A certified alcohol and drug counselor or a licensed alcohol and drug counselor has a duty to warn of or to take reasonable precautions to provide protection from a client’s violent behavior if the counselor has a reasonable belief based on communications with the client that the client is likely to engage in physical violence that poses a serious risk of harm to self or others. The duty imposed under this subsection may not be interpreted to require the counselor to take any action that in the reasonable professional judgment of the counselor would endanger the counselor or increase the threat of danger to a potential victim.
[PL 2019, c. 317, §4 (NEW).]
Terms Used In Maine Revised Statutes Title 32 Sec. 6207-C
- Agency: means an establishment, organization or institution, public or private, that is licensed by the Department of Health and Human Services and that offers, purports to offer, maintains or operates one or more programs for the assessment, diagnosis, care, treatment or rehabilitation of individuals who are suffering physically, emotionally or psychologically from substance use disorder. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 32 Sec. 6203-A
- Certified alcohol and drug counselor: means an individual who provides individual or group alcohol and drug counseling services unaided and who meets the criteria established in section 6214?C. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 32 Sec. 6203-A
- Licensed alcohol and drug counselor: means an individual who provides individual or group alcohol and drug counseling services independently within an agency or in private practice and who meets the criteria established in section 6214?D. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 32 Sec. 6203-A
2. Discharge of duty. A certified alcohol and drug counselor or a licensed alcohol and drug counselor subject to a duty to warn or provide protection under subsection 1 may discharge that duty if the counselor makes reasonable efforts to communicate the threat to a potential victim, notifies a law enforcement agency or seeks involuntary hospitalization of the client under Title 34?B, chapter 3, subchapter 4, article 3.
[PL 2019, c. 317, §4 (NEW).]
3. Immunity. No monetary liability and no cause of action may arise concerning client privacy or confidentiality against an alcohol and drug counselor certified or licensed under this chapter for information disclosed to 3rd parties in an effort to discharge a duty under subsection 2.
[PL 2019, c. 317, §4 (NEW).]
SECTION HISTORY
PL 2019, c. 317, §4 (NEW).