The story
Named after US presidential candidate Barry Goldwater, who successfully sued for libel over a 1964 article that polled psychiatrists on his fitness for presidency.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Goldwater rule
Today it means: A section of the American Psychiatric Association's code of ethics, stating that it is unethical for a psychiatrist to give a professional opinion about a public figure they have not examined in person, and whose mental health they have not received consent to discuss. Full definition →