Accidental or inadvertent breaks of confidentiality sometimes can also occur. For example, billings may be mailed to your address and then be opened by a spouse, child, or parent whom you may not have wanted told that you were in therapy. Here is another example: If you enter group therapy, other members of the group are not professionally bound by rules governing confidentiality. Because they are not counseling {262} professionals themselves, they will be less attentive to matters involving confidentiality--although most group therapists try, when a group is first formed, to get group members to agree not to disclose privileged information outside of sessions. _Exceptions_ Beyond the kinds of possible breaks of confidentiality that are due to inattention, informality, and access of information about you by others, there are a number of legal exceptions to confidentiality. Examination by court order is one. If a judge orders you to be examined by a psychiatrist or psychologist, his findings will be transmitted to the court and so be made public. If a client reveals his or her intention and decision to commit a crime, a therapist is legally required to report this to authorities. If a patient plans to commit homicide, therapists are required by law to take whatever action is necessary to prevent the murder. In California, in addition to warning the police of the homicidal intentions of a client, therapists must also take steps to warn the intended victim, if this is possible. If a patient is seriously suicidal--that is, has decided on a means to commit suicide, has decided when to do this, and cannot be persuaded to hold off while in therapy--the therapist is legally bound to take whatever action may be necessary to prevent the patient's suicide, including the disclosure of pertinent information to public officials. Similarly, in cases of child abuse or neglect, the law requires that a client's confidential relationship with his or her therapist be set to one side in order to provide adequate protection and care for the child. THREATS TO PRIVACY FROM HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANIES There is another way that privacy can be invaded, and for many people it is little known and more significant than the breaks of confidentiality we have already discussed. It comes about as a result of recently formed _data banks_ that are maintained and continuously updated by insurance companies. Information about insurance claims and payments not only are kept on file by individual insurance companies, but a number of national data banks have been established to provide insurance {263} companies with information about the health histories of individuals.