Book Offers Guidance On Ethical Dilemmas

The Ethics Primer of the American Psychiatric Association presents ethical dilemmas encountered by psychiatrists in everyday clinical practice. There are 11 chapters, each written by a member of APA’s Ethics Committee. Topics discussed in each chapter are listed below:

• Chapter 1: Boundary Violations deals with boundary violations in the doctor-patient relationship, whether social, sexual, or business.

• Chapter 2: Children, Adolescents, and Families deals with issues such as informed consent, psychopharmacology, hospitalization, and psychotherapy with this population.

• Chapter 3: Geriatric Populations features information on confidentiality, competence and consent, quality of life, abuse, neglect, and use of restraints.

• Chapter 4: Involuntary Hospitalization focuses on topics of autonomy, informed consent, and beneficence.

• Chapter 5: Managed Care discusses reconciling ethical conduct with managed care’s cost containment and rationing of medical services.

• Chapter 6: Confidentiality focuses on how principles of confidentiality can clash with the business ethics of managed care and insurance companies.

• Chapter 7: Gifts highlights ethical decisions regarding gifts from the pharmaceutical industry and patients.

• Chapter 8: Duty to Report Colleagues Who Engage in Fraud or Deception discusses what to do when a colleague uses impaired judgment in any number of situations.

• Chapter 9: Ethics of Emergency Care features information on how to treat psychiatric patients who come into the emergency room with physical illnesses.

• Chapter 10: Ethics and Forensic Psychiatry includes information about boundary issues and management of ethical misconduct allegations.

• Chapter 11: Consultations and Second Opinions offers guidance about when to obtain additional help in the form of consultations or second opinions.