This video answers the question: Can I describe the case of the Menendez brothers and the ethical considerations with mental health treatment and confidentiality circumstances in that case? It is an interesting case because it involves parricide, which is a rare type of homicide where children kill their parents. It's also interesting because it weaves the mental health components with ethics and confidentiality into the law.

Facts of the Case:
This case goes back to 1989, when two brothers Lyle Menendez (21 at the time) and Eric Menendez (18 at the time) lived in a Beverly Hills mansion with their parents Jose and Kitty Menendez. On August 18, 1989, the brothers bought two shotguns from a sporting goods store in San Diego. Two days later, Sunday night August 20, 1989 the crime took place. Jose was seated on a couch in the family room sleeping and Kitty was laying down with her head on his lap. One of the brothers aimed the 12-gauge shotgun at Jose, fired the shotgun, and struck him in the left elbow and the right arm. The other brother walked up behind Jose and shot him in the back of the head. Because of the shooting, Kitty woke up and she tried to flee, but she was injured by shots fired by the brothers. She was not killed at that time, so the brothers went out to their car because they ran out of ammunition before they could kill their mother. They reloaded the shotguns with birdshot came back in and shot her in the head several times. After Lyle and Erik killed their parents, they shot both Jose and Kitty each in the knee. They called the police and made an effort to cover up their crimes.

In 1996, a jury returned a guilty verdict and the brothers both received two consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole.

Mulvey, A., Fournier, A., & Donahue, T. (2006). Murder in the Family: The Menendez Brothers. Victims & Offenders, 1(3), 213–224.

https://people.com/crime/judalon-smyt...

http://articles.latimes.com/keyword/j...

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/ca-court-...

https://www.apa.org/about/offices/ogc...

http://www.cnn.com/US/9701/03/menende...