In a personal injury lawsuit, the plaintiff claims they sustained psychological distress due to the defendant's actions. During discovery, the defendant seeks to introduce testimony from the plaintiff’s therapist showing that the plaintiff had been receiving treatment for pre-existing mental health conditions. The plaintiff invokes psychotherapist-patient privilege to exclude the testimony. How should the court rule?
The court should exclude the testimony unless the therapist provides informed consent to release treatment records.
The court should rule that the testimony is admissible because the plaintiff waived the privilege by claiming emotional distress.
The court should exclude the testimony because the privilege remains valid in this context.
The court should admit the testimony because privilege does not extend to certain pre-existing conditions.
The correct answer relates to the principle that a plaintiff waives the psychotherapist-patient privilege by voluntarily placing their mental condition in controversy, such as by seeking damages for emotional distress. When this happens, the opposing party has a right to challenge the claims by introducing relevant evidence, such as the therapy records. The incorrect responses misinterpret the privilege by either overstating its continued application or failing to account for the waiver in this context. For example, the option asserting the privilege remains valid overlooks the waiver, and the option about pre-existing conditions is incorrect since waiver focuses on the mental condition being placed at issue rather than the timing of the condition.
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