The Clinician in Court
The Clinician in Court I. CASE EXAMPLE Without warning, a therapist receives a subpoena to testify in court the following week. At first, she is sure that a mistake has…
Clinicians and Lawyers
Clinicians and Lawyers I. CASE EXAMPLES A. CASE EXAMPLE 1 Arriving one evening on an inpatient ward of a community mental health center, after transfer from the emergency room of…
Forensic Evaluations
Forensic Evaluations I. CASE EXAMPLES A. CASE EXAMPLE 1 A 25-year-old man appears at the inpatient admissions office of a community mental health center escorted by two police officers. The…
Competence and Substitute Decision-Making
Competence and Substitute Decision-Making I. CASE EXAMPLES A. CASE EXAMPLE 1 A 38-year-old clinical psychologist is voluntarily hospitalized after unexplained and seemingly self-injurious behavior occurring at a religious retreat house…
Malpractice and Other Forms of Liability
Malpractice and Other Forms of Liability I. CASE EXAMPLES A. CASE EXAMPLE 1 After attending a continuing education program at which the problems of antipsychotic-induced metabolic syndrome were discussed, a…
Legal Issues in Inpatient Psychiatry
Legal Issues in Inpatient Psychiatry I. CASE EXAMPLES A. CASE EXAMPLE 1 A 23-year-old man is tolerated by his family despite a slow slide into a withdrawn, catatonic state, until…
Legal Issues in Emergency Psychiatry and Involuntary Commitment
Legal Issues in Emergency Psychiatry and Involuntary Commitment I. CASE EXAMPLES A. CASE EXAMPLE 1 A middle-aged man shuffles into the office of the psychiatrist on duty in the emergency…
Confidentiality and Privilege
Confidentiality and Privilege I. CASE EXAMPLES A. CASE EXAMPLE 1 A 27-year-old man appears at a psychiatric hospital’s emergency room looking dirty and disheveled. His communications are impaired by marked…
