Doctor Hits Farnsworth's Conception Of Psychiatrist-Student Confidences

A Syracuse doctor has accused college psychiatrists of dispersing information about student-patients "so widely as to make any reference to 'confidentiality' absurd."

In an article in Trans-Action, Dr. Thomas S. Szasz, professor of psychiatry at the State University of New York Up-state Medical Center, focuses his attack on the writings of Dr. Dana L. Farnsworth, head of University Health Services.

Quoting frequently from Dr. Farnsworth's books, Dr. Szasz concludes that the relationship between student and school psychiatrist is "a status relationship in which the psychiatrist is the superior and the student the inferior." He accuses Dr. Farnsworth of using "the welfare of others" as an excuse for violating the doctor-patient confidence. He claims that Dr. Farnsworth never defines his term "welfare."

Dr. Farnsworth last night refused to comment specifically on the article. He explained, however, that UHS psychiatrists do not release information to University officials without the consent of the student, except in the following circumstances:

* If the student is endangering his own life;

* If he is endangering the life of others;

* If he is so psychotic that he cannot make decisions.

Ingesting marijuana, or even LSD, Dr. Farnsworth said, "does not in itself constitute endangering one's own life, although I have come across cases where a student taking LSD was in danger of killing himself." Pregnancy is never reported to a girl's parents without her permission, the director of UHS added.

Dr. Szasz writes that "Farnsworth is plainly aware that the college administration, which pays the psychiatrist, would not tolerate being left in the dark about students." He quotes Dr. Farnsworth as saying, "If he (the dean) calls the psychiatrist, asks about the student, and is told that the confidential patient-physician relationship prevents any comment, he is not going to be very happy about the situation."

In his nine-page article, Dr. Szasz also criticizes Dr. Graham B. Blaine Jr., head of UHS psychiatry, for hinting that a college psychiatrist might give the FBI information on a former student who had been treated as a homosexual. He quotes Dr. Blaine as saying, "This is a difficult problem, one involving loyalty to patients and to country." Dr. Blaine could not be reached last night for comment.

The author of the article does not cite any specific cases of betrayals of confidence in college communities, and he never mentions Harvard or UHS. Reached last night in Syracuse, Dr. Szasz said he "based the article entirely on published material."

He said he has never met either Dr. Farnsworth or Dr. Blaine, and "did not intend to specifically criticize Harvard's health services. I simply used what these men, the Freuds of college psychiatry, have written," he said.