Del. Code 16, § 5402 : Health And Safety — Mental Health Services Providers — Duty of mental health services providers to take precautions against threatened patient violence; duty to warn Date: 2 Sep 2016 TEXT PDF Current through 2016 Legislative Session, Act 399 (a) Except as provided in subsection (d) of this section, no cause of action shall lie against a mental health services provider, nor shall legal liability be imposed, for inability to prevent harm to person or property caused by a patient unless: (1) The patient has communicated to the mental health services provider an explicit and imminent threat to kill or seriously injure a clearly identified victim or victims, or to commit a specific violent act or to destroy property under circumstances which could easily lead to serious personal injury or death, and the patient has an apparent intent and ability to carry out the threat; and (2) The mental health services provider fails to take the precautions specified in subsection (b) of this section in an attempt to prevent the threatened harm. (b) Any duty owed by a mental health services provider to take reasonable precautions to prevent harm threatened by a patient is discharged, as a matter of law, if the mental health services provider, in a timely manner: (1) Notifies a law enforcement agency near where the potential victim resides, or notifies a law enforcement agency near where the patient resides, and communicates the threat of death or serious bodily injury to the clearly identified victim or victims; or (2) Arranges for the patient's immediate voluntary or involuntary hospitalization. (c) Whenever a patient has explicitly threatened to cause serious harm to a person or property, or a mental health services provider otherwise concludes that the patient is likely to do so and the mental health services provider, for the purpose of reducing the risk of harm, discloses any confidential communication made by or relating to the patient, no cause of action, either criminal or civil, shall lie against the mental health services provider for making such disclosure. (d) Whenever a patient within the custodial responsibility of a hospital or other facility has made or makes threats of the kind dealt with in subsection (a) of this section, the mental health services provider and institution, agency or hospital shall, prior to such patient's discharge, consider and evaluate previously made threats made by such patient. Under such circumstances, the mental health services provider may consider it prudent to inform appropriate law enforcement agencies or the previously threatened party as a measure of precaution. Subsections (a) and (c) of this section shall also apply to the hospital or facility. Del. C. § 5402 68 Del. Laws, c. 387, § 1.;