Posted by rosmarin on June 8, 2004, at 18:34:41
In reply to Re: Duty of care, posted by Dr. Bob on June 8, 2004, at 2:08:42
> > Bob has responsibility for the wellbeing and safety of the people who are taking part in this forum, which is also a research project.
>
> The idea here is mutual support and education, not support and education by me. This site is not currently considered research.
>
Legal liability would be as likely to arise in the provision of a mutual support service as for a research project.> > Asking another member of the forum ... to undertake [caring for a person who might be in crisis] could be seen as inappropriate care for both the person in crisis and the person's whose help is being enlisted.
>
> It may be hard to deal with issues that come up. No one is under any obligation to support anyone else -- or even to participate at all.
>
You may in fact be under such a legal obligation - this would arise independently of any intention on your part. You may not be able to oblige people to undertake such responsibilities, but encouraging or facilitating list members to attempt to care for those in crisis could give rise to legal liability on your part.The following post provides an illustration of a situation where such issues could arise:
"However, there's also the fact that one of the best things about Babble is that we posters have no real responsibility for helping other posters because we really don't have the means to help them. Is it fair to even ask someone to assume that responsibility? Even asking is opening the door for Emmy to feel responsible. I don't know that that is very kind of you, Dr. Bob."
(Re: Question about SandyWeb Dinah 5/29/04)
> Are you worried about the wellbeing and safety of people here?
>
Some participants have expressed concerns in recent posts about their own wellbeing or safety or that of others.Other participants have suggested that additional resources, perhaps including appropriately skilled external professional assistance or supervision, may enable improved administration of the site. Still others have set out their views as to why this would be a compassionate course to take.
I am sure that compassionate considerations will be uppermost in your mind in any case, but the potential legal and financial consequences of mistakes that might be made in the running of the site provide a further argument for taking all reasonable steps to avoid any risk of them arising.
poster:rosmarin
thread:354568
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20040527/msgs/354876.html