| More college and university students are seeking mental health counseling services than ever before. A consequence of the increased demand for counseling services is the rise in incidents of ethical and legal dilemmas for counselors. Mental health counselors, practicing in a higher education setting, have become significantly at-risk for lawsuits and legal problems.;The purpose of this study was to examine the ethical and legal issues for mental health counselors in higher education. The following issues were identified for analysis in this study: confidentiality and privileged communication, undue familiarity (sexual misconduct), the dangerous patient, and mandatory university withdrawal for psychiatric reasons.;The study sought to analyze: (a) the basis for the court decisions, (b) whether the decisions are consistent with the counselors' ethical codes, and (c) the implications that the court decisions hold for the university counselor, and (d) what implications the court decisions hold for the university student.;Seminal landmark decisions which dealt with counseling issues from 1974 to 1995 were explored. The court decisions and rationales were compared with professional codes of ethics for implications for counseling activities in higher education. Legal theories raised in the case law encompassed: tort, special relationship, fiduciary duty, standard of care, reasonable care, foreseeability, malpractice/negligence, contract, and respondeat superior and negligent supervision and handicapped students' rights to an education.;Critical findings of this study revealed that the courts (U.S. Supreme Court, federal and state courts), in determining the counselor's scope of liability, looked not only to the law (Constitutional, federal and state statutes) and common law but to the institution's policy and procedure to form a "contract" between the institution and the student and also to the professional standards of ethics to form the basis for comparison for the counselor's conduct.;This study provided counselors in higher education with a resource on the literature pertaining to these issues, the current ethical codes, and the relevant and up to date case law. For counselors in higher education, this study can be used as a resource to protect themselves from liability and student-clients from potential harm. |
