Post by copzgirl1171 on Aug 7, 2012 7:08:50 GMT -5
I am not sure this makes me an expert, but at least it makes me more than a Holiday Inn guest.
I KNEW there was a reason the University of Colorado was being so tight lipped. And I still think there is something to the post office thing as well.
The psychiatrist treating alleged Dark Knight Rises shooter James Holmes "made contact" with a University of Colorado police officer "to express concerns about her patient's behavior" several weeks before the July 20 movie theater shooting in Aurora, sources told ABC News. The network's sources do not know what action, if any, the officer — who was recently interviewed by the Aurora Police Department — took regarding the information given by Dr. Lynne Fenton. Last week, reports emerged that Fenton had also contacted her colleagues on the school's Behavioral Evaluation and Threat Assessment team (BETA) about Holmes, but the group determined that once Holmes withdrew from the school, it "had no control over him."
You know, liability concerns often keep people from feeling they can exercise their common sense. For example, a hospital in our medical center was investigating someone they strongly believed was stealing narcotics from the OR's, but they could never prove it (he was REALLY smart about detecting surveillance). He wasn't using what they believe he was stealing - he tested negative - twice (very embarrassing and starts to look like harassment). Right when they had a lead that they were sure would catch him stealing on camera - definitive proof - he resigned. Then they heard he went to work for another hospital.
If they contacted the other hospital and warned them, and they were wrong about their investigation, he could reasonably sue for defamation.
If they didn't contact them they worried that he would do the same thing - which puts patients at risk during surgery.
It put them in a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't situation. They ended up putting together a report that was shared with the security teams of area hospitals that explained that they had an ongoing investigation and multiple incidents of theft of a particular narcotic in their ORs and then it stopped abrubtly so all hospitals should be on the lookout for similar events in their ORs in case the person had moved on to another location. That put them at risk for bad PR, made their security department look less than adequate, etc. But it also put patients first, which was the only REAL priority. It took someone speaking loudly and reminding many parties about that priority before the final decision was made.
Post by copzgirl1171 on Aug 7, 2012 7:38:58 GMT -5
What I don't get is that all reports say that he was in the process of withdrawing, he had access to buildings so why wouldn't the BETA team have some responsibility?
weren't their hands tied by federal education/privacy laws to a certain extent? (i could be talking out my ass)
This I don't know, but I have to wonder what it means when a psych breaks patient/doctor confidentiality to go to someone. Surely that has to mean something because isn't the only way a doctor can break confidentiality is if a patient shows risk to himself or others?
weren't their hands tied by federal education/privacy laws to a certain extent? (i could be talking out my ass)
This I don't know, but I have to wonder what it means when a psych breaks patient/doctor confidentiality to go to someone. Surely that has to mean something because isn't the only way a doctor can break confidentiality is if a patient shows risk to himself or others?
Yes, from everything I've read, they did all they could. In order for a shrink to break confidentiality and notify police, there has to be a direct, specific, imminent threat. Saying "sometimes I think about walking into a movie theater and shooting a bunch of people" is not enough. It's not direct, imminent or specific.
It was completely appropriate for the doc to contact the Beta team and express concerns about a disturbed student, but that's more of a school/FERPA issue rather than a police matter. Once he withdrew, and with no specific threats, there was nothing else they could do.