Chapter 5
Confidentiality and Privileged Communication
Answer Keys
1. With respect to confidentiality and privileged communication:
a. confidentiality and privileged communication are both primarily ethical issues.
b. confidentiality and privileged communication are both primarily legal issues.
c. confidentiality is primarily a legal issue, and privileged communication is primarily
an ethical issue.
d. confidentiality is primarily an ethical issue, and privileged communication is
primarily a legal issue.
e. it depends on the context as to whether confidentiality and privileged communication
are ethical or legal issues.
2. Privileged communication statutes:
a. ensure that counselors will never have to repeat information clients tell them in a
counseling session.
b. protect clients from having confidential communications with their counselors
disclosed in a court of law without their permission.
c. protect the privacy of counselors.
d. make it a crime for counselors to reveal confidential communications with their
clients unless their clients give them written permission to disclose the information.
e. state that counselors will lose their licenses if they reveal confidential information
clients tell them in counseling sessions.
3. Breaches of client confidentiality by counselors:
a. are the most common basis of malpractice cases against counselors.
b. are the foundation for most complaints filed against counselors to their licensure
boards.
c. occur rarely and, when they do occur, are the result of counselors intentionally
informing others of what a client said in a counseling session.
d. occur rarely and, when they do occur, are required by state statutes.
e. occur rarely and, when they do occur, usually are inadvertent.
4. If a counselor is asked to disclose privileged information about a client who cannot be
located, then the obligation to assert the privilege rests with:
a. the client’s next of kin.
b. the counselor.
c. the client’s attorney.
d. the client’s spouse, if any.
e. the executor of the client’s estate.
5. When the client is deceased and there is no statutory language dealing with privilege and
the death of the holder, the individual who usually is allowed to assert the privilege is:
a. the client’s last counselor.
b. the client’s legal representative.
c. the client’s spouse or next of kin.
d. the judge hearing the case.
e. a guardian ad litem appointed by a judge for that particular purpose.
6. In order to get a privileged communication statute passed that protects the privacy of
clients who are in professional relationships with counselors, legislators must be convinced
that:
a. counseling relationships are more important than physician-patient relationships.
b. counseling relationships are similar to the relationships between a priest and penitent,
or between a minister and congregation member.
c. making an exception to the general rule that all evidence must be presented in court is
vital to the well-being of society.
d. law suits can be as easily resolved without the benefit of information that clients tell
their counselors in confidential relationships.
e. counseling has met all the tests to demonstrate that it is a true profession.
7. When uncertain about the privileged status of information requested for disclosure through
a subpoena, a counselor should consult with:
a. the client whose information is being requested.
b. other mental health professionals.
c. another licensed counselor.
d. an attorney who represents the counselor or his or her employer.
e. the attorney who sent the subpoena.
8. Disclosure of confidential information is acceptable under all of the following conditions
EXCEPT:
a. the counselor suspects abuse or neglect of a child.
b. a client poses a danger to self or others.
c. a counselor is in clinical supervision with another counselor.
d. a client has a fatal, communicable disease and the client’s behavior is putting others
at risk.
e. an attorney sends a counselor a subpoena.
9. When a husband subpoenas a counselor to reveal information in a court hearing that was
provided by the wife in joint couples counseling sessions, and the wife objects to the
information being revealed, the counselor:
a. should refuse to do so because the counselor would violate the wife’s privacy.
b. agree to reveal the information because to refuse to do so would not be in the best
interest of the husband.
c. has to reveal the information because privileged communication statutes never cover
married couples counseling.
d. should consult with an attorney because laws and court cases vary as to whether the
counselor will have to reveal the information over the wife’s objection.
e. should ask the wife to waive her privacy rights.
10. When a client accuses a counselor of wrongdoing through a complaint with the counselor’s
licensure board or through a malpractice law suit filed in court:
a. the client automatically waives his or her privacy rights and the counselor can reveal
private information related to providing counseling services to the client.
b. the client’s written permission must be obtained before the counselor can reveal
private information related to providing counseling services to the client.
c. counselors are barred from revealing any information about the client when defending
themselves.
d. counselors may reveal only information the client agreed may be revealed when
defending themselves.
e. counselors can use no information from the counseling relationship with the client in
defending themselves.
11. It is TRUE that:
a. the majority of the complaints filed with state licensing boards against counselors
involve claims of breach of confidentiality.
b. research clearly demonstrates that counselor assurances of confidentiality encourage
client disclosures of personal and intimate information.
c. when counselors share confidential client information with other professionals
involved in a client’s care, the counselors should first obtain client permission to
share the information.
d. counselors should make the same guarantees of confidentiality in group counseling
that they make when counseling individuals.
e. due to concerns about confidentiality, counselors should never use a family member
as an interpreter when counseling a client who does not speak the same language as
the counselor.
12. All of the following statements are true EXCEPT:
a. counselors should consult with colleagues when they are uncertain about an exception
to confidentiality.
b. confidentiality and privilege belong to the client, not the counselor.
c. confidentiality and privilege are not absolute.
d. counselors should consult with colleagues when they are uncertain about an exception
to privileged communication.
e. both confidentiality and privileged communication are based on the client’s right to
privacy.
13. The Supreme Court ruling in Jaffe v. Redmond indicated that:
a. a societal stigma is still associated with seeking counseling.
b. counselors can assert privilege on behalf of a client, even when the client has waived
the privilege.
c. psychiatrists are more likely to be granted privileged communication on a case-by-
case basis than counselors.
d. counselors have a duty to warn intended victims of clients who threaten those who are
endangered.
e. communications between ministers and their congregants are usually not privileged.
14. Counselors DO NOT have an ethical obligation to uphold the confidentiality of information
revealed to them when:
a. a family member of an adult client asks for information the client has revealed in an
individual counseling session.
b. a client reveals that he committed a burglary two years ago and was never caught.
c. they encounter a client in the grocery store and the client reveals information about an
event that occurred in the client’s life between sessions.
d. a client has refused to sign a release of information giving the counselor permission to
communicate with the client’s former counselor.
e. an adult client discloses that she was sexually abused ten years ago by her father who
is now deceased.
15. During the time that a counseling student is counseling clients in a practicum or internship
setting, the student counselor:
a. should not reveal the names of clients to the practicum/internship supervisor.
b. has the same ethical obligations to uphold confidentiality as does a licensed
counselor.
c. should refer all clients who engage in risky behaviors.
d. should maintain absolute confidentiality of participants in groups the student is
facilitating.
e. should not videotape counseling sessions so that client confidentiality is protected.
Answer Keys