Bench & Bar March/April 2025

PROTECTIVE ACTIONS UNDER RULE 1.14(b):

LAST COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS: • Read Ky. R. Sup. Ct. 3.130 (1.6) (b)(1) and Ky. R. Sup. Ct. (1.14)(b). • Affirm your understanding and contact the Ethics Hotline for your area. • Talk with other professionals, specifically mental health providers. • Talk with your own physician to get his or her as sessment of the situation. • Keep the National Lifeline telephone number close to hand: 988. • Have an understanding in your office regarding veteran suicide prevention. • CARE.

1. Engage Support Systems : Contact family members, mental health professionals, or other support networks if doing so aligns with the client’s best interests. 2. Emergency Intervention : In cases of immediate danger, contacting emergency services ( e.g. , dialing 911) is a neces sary step, as in the case of a veteran threatening self-harm in public. 3. Respect for Autonomy : Strive to involve the client in the decision-making process when possible, explaining why protective measures are being taken. ETHICAL BALANCE: CONFIDENTIALITY VS. PROTECTION Together, Rules 1.6(b)(1) and 1.14(b) offer a roadmap for attorneys to act decisively in crises while maintaining ethical integrity: • PRIORITIZE HUMAN LIFE: When a client’s statements or behaviors indicate a clear and present risk of suicide, the attorney’s duty to protect life overrides strict confiden tiality. • EXERCISE PROFESSIONAL JUDGMENT: Deter mine the least intrusive means of intervention while effec tively addressing the threat. • DOCUMENT DECISIONS: Keep detailed records of the threat, the steps taken, and the rationale behind those actions to ensure transparency and accountability. In short, you are to take action to protect your client . When assisting a veteran client who may be suicidal, an attorney must carefully evaluate the level of risk by following a structured approach. Begin by distinguishing between ideation and intent—does the client merely express thoughts of suicide, or is there a genuine intent to act? If intent is present, assess whether there is an immediate risk by directly asking the client. If the risk is immediate, determine whether the veteran has a specific plan for self-harm. Finally, if a plan exists, inquire whether the client has the means to carry it out. If the answers confirm intent, immediacy, a plan, and access to means, the attorney must take decisive action to intervene and ensure the client’s safety. Counsel the veteran against suicide and encourage the individual to get help from family, support groups, or professional services. Note that many veterans already have counselors, therapists, psy chologists, and psychiatrists and the veteran should be encouraged to reach out to one or more of these resources. If possible, con sult a mental health professional to help evaluate the credibility of the suicide threat, keeping in mind the restriction of making only necessary minimal disclosure to obtain opinion. Remember the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988. If you believe self-harm is immediate do not hesitate to contact Emergency services. It is neither a time to second guess yourself nor to be reflective. ACT.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR ROY BERWICK is a retired sol dier and a senior veteran’s attorney with Legal Aid in Louisville. He was admitted to practice law in Nebraska in 1980 and Kentucky in 1991. After retiring from the U.S. Army in 1993, he pursued private educa tion before returning to law in 2017. Berwick

graduated from Creighton University’s College of Law in 1980 and has been a member of the KBA’s Military and Veteran’s Law Committee since 2018.

ENDNOTES 1 Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention . (2022, September). 2022 Na tional Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report. www.mentalhealth.va.gov. https://www.mentalhealth.va.gov/docs/data-sheets/2022/2022-National-Vet eran-Suicide-Prevention-Annual-Report-FINAL-508.pdf 2 Schaffer, Katherine, “The changing face of America’s veteran population,” Pew Research Center, November 8, 2023, https://www.pewresearch.org/short reads/2023/11/08/the-changing-face-of-americas-veteran-population/. See also Greg Cancelada, “Sizing Up the Ranks of America’s Veterans,” Open Vault Blog-Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, November 08, 2023, https://www.st louisfed.org/open-vault/2023/november/sizing-up-ranks-america-veterans#. 3 Housing Assistance Council, Veterans Data Central’s Kentucky Data Sheet, https://veteransdata.info/states/2210000/Kentucky.pdf. 4 38 U.S.C. 101 (10). 5 Much indebted to Dr. Tamara Reid-McIntosh, J.D., Ph.D., for her superb pre sentation before the Kentucky Bar Convention entitled, Maximizing Legal Resources Available to Veterans in the Commonwealth Of Kentucky, 10 May 2024, from which the numbers of veterans have been taken. 6 Level, A Client Threatens Suicide-What Can You Do? NC State Bar Journal, Spring 2019, vol. 24 number 1. Used, here, with permission of the author. 7 Id. 8 KY. R. SUP.CT. 3.130 (1.6 and 1.14).

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