Legal and Ethical Issues Flashcards
(36 cards)
what is the law in psych?
Rules governing clinicians’ actions to protect
vulnerable persons
What are risks in psych?
- Un- or under-qualified clinicians
- Clinicians treating outside areas of expertise
- Treatments without empirical support
- e.g., rebirthing therapy
(She could decide that in her therapy she no longer wants to use
empirically supported treatment and do something like her dog
works)
Rebirthing therapy
- ppl have wounds from early childhood so we need to do the birth experience
all over again to get them to fight to want to be with us
- a kid died from this
- people can do stuff like this even if they have some idea that they think
this would help
What are ethics in psych?
Accepted values that guide decisions
Canadian Psychological Association (CPA)
Code of Ethics
College of Health and Care Professionals of BC (CHCPBC)
Code of Conduct
anyone who submits a complaint that follows you so anything you apply to will see that
What are the CPA code of ethics principles?
Respect for the dignity of persons
- Confidentiality, informed consent
Responsible caring - Clinical competence, treatment must
maximize benefit & minimize harm
Integrity in relationships
* Unbiased by affiliations
(guided only by clinical judgment)
(she cannot like sell
kitten likes to murder all day
shirts are try to get her
clients to buy it)
Responsibility to society
* Recognize how actions affect society
(in addition to clients’ rights)
(you have to weigh your clients rights
with societies rights
- you do have to do some weighing )
What are the 3 main legal and ethical issues in psych?
Confidentiality
Involuntary Confinement
Deinstitutionalization
What is the law in Canada?
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (1982)
Important items in psychology:
Guarantee of rights and freedoms
No arbitrary detainment or imprisonment
Equality before the law
- No discrimination (race, national/ ethnic origin,
religion, sex, age, mental/ physical ability)
What is the problem with the law in psych
…and interpretation of the law:
* Keeps changing
→ often in response to lawsuits
interpretation of the law is when things get tricky
- if someone takes you to court and they have great arguments the psychologist can get screwed
What is the issue of confidentiality: Privelege vs. Privacy.
Privilige:
- Right to refuse to disclose information to
legal system (in all circumstances) - e.g., lawyer-client communication
(this is what you have with your lawyer, if you tell them you will kill someone
they do not need to tell anyone)
Privacy:
* Right to choose information being shared
(in most circumstances)
* e.g., clinician-client communication
you have the right to keep most information a secret unless it may cause harm to
someone
Explain clinician client confidentiality
confidential communication:
* Communication is private
* Client chooses whether & to whom info
can be disclosed (in most circumstances)
* Law against breaching confidentiality
exceptions:
* Imminent risk to self or others
* Suspected harm to a child or dependent
adult (and guardian will not protect)
* Driving while intoxicated
* Court subpoena
- if there is a suspected
danger if the parent is
willing to protect the child
then that is not reportable
^- ex: if the parent is aware
that the child is cyber bullied
and they are like I got this
^- if the parent knows is
willing to protect and can
protect
What is Tarasof v regents of the University of California?
- Duty to warn (Tarasoff I, 1974)
- Duty to protect (Tarasoff II, 1976)
College student and a guy who were sort of seeing each other and he was very hooked on her and
for her it was causal. So he is seeing a psychologist and was like I am going to kill her so
the psychologist suggested he goes to the hospital he didn’t want to so she called the police. They interviewed him and he said he was not going to kill her they believed him and then he killed her
What is Ewing v. Goldstein
- Information from a close family member
Goldstein was this psychologist and was seeing this other police officer dude named chad who had this girlfriend who
stooped seeing him and starting seeing someone else. The guy said he was going to kill her and Goldstein said to go to the
hospital and he said fine ill go for a little bit the psychiatrist who was in charge decided that chad was solid, two days later
he kills the ex girlfriend and her new boyfriend
What is Smith v. Jones
- Privilege of legal counsel
Defense lawyer was working with someone that killed a sex worker. To prove he did nothing wrong they got
him a psychological assessment, in this assessment he said he would kill a bunch of sex workers. The
psychologist let it be because the lawyer hired him so what happened is that defense attorneys no longer
hire assessment psychologists because the law decided that the psychologist would have to tell
What is the CPA code on victims?
Clinician:
Must breach confidentiality when
a 3rd party (identifiable victim or class of victims)
is believed to be at risk
You do not have to talk to every sex worker you
would have to talk to the cops
What are ethical issues in confidentiality?
Clinician efforts to reduce liability
- Asking fewer (important) questions
- Vague language in session notes
Who is the client?
* Organization vs. patient
* Parent vs. child
You do not want to get sued. So they take fewer notes so you cannot get in trouble. Because if you do not take notes you
cannot prove that your client said that.
What ae the 2 types of involuntary commitment?
criminal
civil
What is criminal commitment?
Confining person who commits crime
due to mental illness to psychiatric institution
(you did a crime that is related to a mental illness and you need to be sent to
a psychiatrist institution )
Not criminally responsible on account of mental
disorder (NCRMD)
“Insanity defense”
What is NCRMD?
Legal - not psychological- term
Not capable of criminal responsibility
means you cannot be criminally responsible for reasons we will talk about
WHat is the first insanity defense?
1st “insanity” defense
20
M’Naghten Rule
(murder of English prime minister’s secretary – oops!)
- Ability to know an act is wrong (“wild beast”)
- Legally
- Morally (standards of society)
- Intellectual ability to know right from wrong
- Ability to apply that knowledge rationally in the situation
(“policeman at the elbow”)
What do you know about the insanity defense?
Rarely used
Typically successful only for severe
disorders
Detention often longer than sentence for same
crime if not NCRMD
(often you are detained for much longer than you would be if you committed the same crime but you
were not held criminally responsible
- so it is actually way worse)
≠ Acquittal (they are not like you are good and you didn’t do it
- it is you are not good and you did not do a good thing and you need help
and we need to give you help)
What is the insanity defense?
The Irresistible Impulse Rule (1887)
this is basically saying, do you have knowledge or right and wrong and do you have an impulse to act
is it impossible to resist
functional
- knowledge of right vs wrong
nonfunctional
- impulse to act
- impulse to resist
What is the insanity defense in Neurolaw?
Evidence of disordered neural structure & function
sufficient to alter sentence?
Activation in areas consistent with impulsive urges
vs.
inability to control (“irresistible”) urges
There is this new area of law that is saying that if there is evidence of structural and
functional differences that suggests that a person is not able to do these things
as well. Should they be held less responsible because they do not have all the material to work with?
What is volitional control vs irresistable urges?
Neural systems – checks & balances
- what counts as irresistible -> that’s not on me that’s on my brain
^- ex irresistible would be not being able to stop yourself even though a police officer is right there
If you have a more active limbic system that is like go go go
and less active PFC which is like hmm maybe not. It will be
harder to stop yourself. The question is how hard? is it
to the point where you cannot resist it.
Self-reflective
(including PFC)
Impulsive (including amygdala)
- PFC is keeping everything is check. Telling you not to do it
amygdala is saying ya do it (limic system)
what is the neural activity associated with control?
- normal subcortical
- normal PFC
what is the neural activity associated with impulse?
higher subcortical
lower PFC
they are going to have less funciton
and in some cases less volume. Less
actual brain matter there
