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Michael S. Gelfand, MD; Chalmers B. Daniel, Jr, MD; Larry Killebrew, JD
Memphis, Tenn

JAMA. 1995;274(20):1586-1587.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.

—Physicians have both a medical and a legal duty to warn the family members of patients with contagious diseases, such as meningococcemia or tuberculosis, about a potential for contracting the disease as a result of exposure. On the other hand, no presumption of a legal duty has until recently existed for infectious but noncontagious diseases, such as Rocky Mountain spotted fever.

In a 1993 decision, the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled that a physician treating a patient with documented or suspected Rocky Mountain spotted fever has a legal duty to warn identifiable third parties in the patient's immediate family about the risk of contracting the disease.¹ Clustering of Rocky Mountain spotted fever and the simultaneous illness in the family have been reported in a small number of cases.^2,3 Of note, major internal medicine and infectious diseases textbooks do not mention either family clustering or duty to . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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