Focus
Journal Home Search Current Issue Past Issues Subscribe All APPI Journals Help Contact Us
 
Quicksearch
Advanced Search
Or Search All APPI Journals
This Article
* Full Text
* Full Text (PDF)
* Citation Map
Services
* Email this article to a Colleague
* Similar articles in this journal
* Alert me to new issues of the journal
* Add to My Articles & Searches
* Download to citation manager
* reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
* Citing Articles via HighWire
* Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
* Articles by Simon, R. I.
* Search for Related Content
PubMed
* Articles by Simon, R. I.
Related Collections
* Confidentiality
* Informed Consent
* Other Ethics Issues
* Commitment of the Mentally Ill
* Mentally Ill Offenders
* Other Forensic Issues
* Suicide
* Miscellaneous Violence/Aggression
Focus 1:349-372 (2003)
© 2003 American Psychiatric Association


REVIEW

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 patient’s competency, as well as the patient’s ability to manage his or her personal affairs, may be required to determine the patient’s mental capacity to make health care decisions. Currently, competency determinations are particularly relevant for patients with Alzheimer’s 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.




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
APPI Online CMEHome page
Reference List for FOCUS Self-Assessment Examination
PsychiatryOnline CME, October 10, 2007; 2007(3): 2 - 2.
[Full Text]


Home page
FocusHome page
Bibliography for Ethics, Professionalism, and End of Life Care
Focus, January 1, 2007; 5(4): 417 - 419.
[Full Text] [PDF]




Get information about faster international access.

Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2003 American Psychiatric Association. All rights reserved.

Home | Search | Current Issue | Past Issues | Subscribe | All APPI Journals | Help | Contact Us

American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc. American Psychiatric Association
1000 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 1825, Arlington, VA 22209-3901 * 800-368-5777 * appi at psych.org