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Mandatory outpatient treatment
Mandatory outpatient treatment refers to court-ordered outpatient treatment for patients who suffer from severe mental illness and who are unlikely to be compliant with such treatment without a court order. Mandatory outpatient treatment is a preventative treatment for those who do not presently meet criteria for inpatient commitment. It should be used for patients who need treatment in order to prevent relapse or deterioration that would predictably lead to their meeting the inpatient commitment criteria in the foreseeable future.
Peer review of expert testimony
The American legal system seeks justice through the adversarial process. The adversarial process, by its very nature, tends to highly polarize ideas. At times psychiatrists who testify as expert witnesses in court or similar settings have been perceived in the popular, legal and medical literature as either deficient in knowledge or to have knowingly behaved in an unethical manner to advance the cause of the party who hired them.(1-6) Sometimes these perceptions are not accurate. Other times they are true. This paper attempts to outline the problem and discuss possible solutions.
Guidelines to District Branches for a policy on physician impairment
The American Psychiatric Association has resolved to promote the mental and physical health of all physicians toward the goal of insuring optimum care of patients, protecting the public from possible harm by an impaired physician, preventing loss of valuable medical manpower, and helping the impaired physician regain health and productivity. The APA recognizes that psychiatrists, like other physicians, are at risk for impairment by mental and physical disorders, including addiction (or substance abuse). All physicians have an ethical obligation to assist colleagues who are impaired, including those who avoid and resist treatment.