Applying AAPL Ethics and Mission in Forensic Treatment

Abstract

The increased visibility of the patients’ rights movement in medicine in recent years has left the erroneous impression that patients and their physicians are on equal footing in the physician-patient relationship. The reality is that vulnerability of patients in this relationship leaves them at the mercy of health care professionals. This is most acute in psychiatry, where patients reveal aspects of their inner being to their psychiatrist, including strange beliefs they would never disclose to their closest friends and family members, whereas psychiatrists, in contrast, reveal close to nothing of themselves to patients. Additionally, distortions of reality can strip patients of social mores and basic humanity and sometimes cause them to commit crimes. American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law (AAPL) scholars have espoused the values of treating evaluees professionally and with compassion and respect while upholding their dignity and humanity. These worthy forensic psychiatric writings, however, have unfortunately not always transitioned into the clinical treatment of forensic patients. Reports of patient abuse by staff in psychiatric hospitals, including forensic psychiatric hospitals, remain rampant. Using real-life examples, I apply forensic psychiatric ethics to patient care and offer suggestions of practices and policies that would enhance treatment of patients and decrease the potential for patient abuse in psychiatric hospitals.