Ethics

The chapter begins by discussing a clinical vignette and its ethical considerations in the context of Alsabti v. Board of Registration in Medicine (of Massachusetts), a legal case dealing with disciplinary action against a physician’s unethical conduct while in medical school. The chapter then proceeds with a general introduction to medical ethics. Using ethics guidelines from the American Medical Association (AMA), American Psychiatric Association (APA), and the American Academy for Psychiatry and the Law (AAPL), the principles of medical ethics as applicable to psychiatry are presented and discussed. This discussion then serves as a foundation for illustrating the core elements of these ethical guidelines as they relate to forensic psychiatry, including issues of dual agency, informed consent, confidentiality, and striving for objectivity.