
Focus 1:349-372 (2003)
© 2003 American Psychiatric Association
The Law and Psychiatry
Robert I. Simon, M.D.
1 From the Program in Psychiatry and Law, Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington D.C.
Correspondence: Address reprint requests to Robert I. Simon, M.D., 8008 Horseshoe Lane, Potomac, MD, 20854
The body of law applied to the practice of psychiatry does not differ from that of medicine in general. Nevertheless, the diagnosis, treatment, and management of patients with psychiatric disorders present not only unique clinical and ethical concerns but also unique legal considerations. For instance, determination of a patients competency, as well as the patients ability to manage his or her personal affairs, may be required to determine the patients mental capacity to make health care decisions. Currently, competency determinations are particularly relevant for patients with Alzheimers disease or dementia related to AIDS. Psychiatrists commonly face ethical and legal issues such as informed consent, the right to treatment, the right to refuse treatment, substitute decision making, and advance directives when treating psychiatric patients.
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