Should Attorneys Have Access to Psychological Test Data?

The revision of the Psychologists' Ethics Code demonstrates that attorneys are entitled to access to psychological test data. Standard 2.02 (b) of the now-obsolete 1992 Psychologists' Ethics Code (formally, the Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct) informed psychologists that they must 'refrain from the misuse of assessment techniques ' and take reasonable steps to prevent others from misusing the information these techniques provide. This includes refraining from releasing raw test results or raw data to persons ' who are not qualified to use such information.' The prohibition on data release was removed during the creation of the 2002 Code, and the pertinent section of Standard 9.04 (a) now reads as follows: 'Pursuant to a client/patient release, psychologists provide test data to the client/patient or other persons identified in the release. Psychologists may refrain from releasing test data to protect a client/patient or others from substantial harm or misuse or misrepresentation of the data or the test, recognizing that in many instances release of confidential information under these circumstances is regulated by law.'

During the discussions that accompanied the creation of the 2002 Ethics Code and, more specifically, the debate concerning the hotly contested issue of releasing test data to 'persons ' who are not qualified,' I wrote to the Ethics Code Task Force and offered the following observations. 1) When we endeavor to keep test data out of the hands of allegedly unqualified people, we force litigants to challenge us, and when they do, they usually prevail. From this result, we should infer that most judges believe us to be on the wrong side in this skirmish; 2) Complex medical data are turned over without a fuss. When psychologists put up a fuss, we are viewed as prima donnas (in the informal sense ' temperamental, vain, arrogant). Our critics portray us as an erudite but silly group, clinging to the notion that we have secret ways of delving into people's minds and trying to protect our secrets from legitimate scrutiny.