Privileged Communications by Psychologists, Social Workers, and Drug and Alcohol Specialists.

Under the laws of the United States, privileged communications are strictly limited to a few well-defined categories, such as communications between attorney and client, clergyman and penitent, and physician and patient. Certain official documents are recognized as privileged, and a privilege is accorded law enforcement officers to decline to reveal confidential sources of information. This paper discusses the status of legislation on privileged communication according to (1) Mississippi statutory law, (2) statutory law in five other States, (3) major cases that have been in Mississippi courts, (4) the status of the case law on the subject elsewhere, (5) model legislation that has been proposed or recommendations for legislative action proposed by various agencies, and provides (6) recommendations developed on the basis of the material presented in the paper. (Author/MLF)