Chapter 19 - Law and Ethics Flashcards
True or False: Clinical scientists and practitioners conduct their work in isolation?
False, they operate within a complex social system, they affect and are affected by other institutions of society
True or false: the government regulates the use of psychotropic drugs?
True
What two social institutions have a particularly strong impact on the mental health profession?
The legislative and judicial systems (The Legal field)
What is the responsibility of the Legal field?
Protect both the public good and the rights of individuals (patients)
Role of mental heath professional within the criminal justice system?
Called upon to help the courts assess the mental stability of people accused of crimes
What is psychology in law?
Clinical practitioners and researchers who operate within the legal system
What is law in psychology?
The legislative and judicial systems regulate certain aspects of mental health care
What is forensic psychology/psychiatry?
Concerned with the intersection between psychological practice and research and the judicial system
What happens when the courts find someone to be suffering from severe mental instability?
They may find them to not be responsible for their actions or may not be able to defend themselves in court, and so should not be punished in the USUAL way
Who makes the final judgement to mental instability?
The courts, whose opinions are guided by mental health professionals
What is criminal commitment?
Person accused of a crime is judged mentally unstable and sent to a treatment facility
What are the several forms of criminal commitment?
Not guilty by reason of insanity, M’Naghten Test, Irresistible impulse test, Durham test.
What does Not guilt by reason of insanity mean?
A verdict stating that defendant is not guilty of a crime because they were insane at the time of the crime
True or false: All those with mental disorders qualify for a legal definition of insanity?
False, defendants may have mental disorders but not necessarily qualify for a legal definition of insanity
What is the M’Naghten test/rule?
A legal test that holds people to be insane at the time they committed a crime if, because of a mental disorder, they did not know the nature of the act or did not know right from wrong
What is the irresistible impulse test?
A legal test that holds people to be insane at the time they committed a crime if they were unable to control their actions
What is the Durham test?
A legal test that holds people to be insane at the time they committed a crime if their act was a result of a mental disorder
What is outpatient commitment?
Community treatment, monitoring, and re hospitalize if necessary
What does guilty by mentally ill mean?
Found guilty of committing a crime but are also suffering from a mental illness that needs treatment duringimprisonment. The illness was not fully related to or responsible for the crime
What is civil commitment?
A legal process by which a person can be forced into mental health treatment
What are outpatient civil commitment laws?
allow patients to be forced into community treatment programs, rather than mental institutions
What is parens patriae?
The state can take action to protect patients from self-harm, including through involuntarily hospitalization
When is proof clear and convincing, according to the courts?
When it provides 75% certainty that the criteria of commitment have been met, the clinician must offer this
What is emergency commitment?
Clinicians have the right to certify that a individual need temporary commitment and medication (usually require two physicians)
What is the average length of a emergency commitment?
3 days
What is the right to treatment?
The legal right of patients to receive adequate treatment
What is the right to refuse treatment?
The legal right of patients to refuse certain forms of treatment
What treatment, does state rulings constituently grant patients the right to refuse?
Psychosurgery, also electroconvulsive therapy often times can be refused BUT at times will still be forced on a involuntary patient or will require the consent of a close relative or other third party
What other treatment is sometimes given the right to be refused?
Psychotropic medications because of the side effects
When can a right-to-refuse be overturned (psychotropic medication)
If a patients refusal is considered incompetent, dangerous, or irrational by a psychiatrist, medical committee, or court
What other rights do patients have?
A right to aftercare and to an appropriate community residence
True or false, psychologists can prescribe medication?
True, who receive special pharmacology training also, psychologists can now admit client to a state’s hospitals
Psychological research of legal topics include?
eyewitness testimony and patterns of criminality
What does psychological research indicate about eyewitness testimony?
Can be highly unreliable, subtle biases, crimes are unexpected and fleeting therefore hard to remember. Also concerns for safety can impair memory
What positive findings has research found about psychological profiling? What is its drawback?
Found that perpetrators pf particular kinds of crimes frequently share a number of traits and background features, but this does not mean the traits are always present and therefore can be misleading or wrong
What is a code of ethics?
A body of principles and rules for the ethical behaviour, designed to guide decisions and actions by members of a profession
