Forensic Neuropsychiatric Ethics

Balancing Competing Duties In and Out of Court

William Connor Darby, Robert Weinstock

• Publisher: American Psychiatric Association Publishing
• Year: 2025
• eBook ISBN: 9781615374083
• Edition: 0
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: Psychiatry & Mental Health

When acting in a forensic role, clinicians—psychiatrists, psychologists, neurologists, and other medical or mental health practitioners—face the intersection of the legal and medical systems. A number of questions arise: Should they prioritize medical values or legal values when providing expert testimony? How do they serve justice, rather than advocating for one side or the other? How can they adequately address cultural and social factors that may influence individuals' actions, as well as structural biases that affect the system itself?

Forensic Neuropsychiatric Ethics provides a pragmatic approach to ethical dilemmas, outlining decision-making skills for problems not addressed by other guidelines. This volume covers

• The history of forensic psychiatric ethics, forensic ethics theories, and approaches to ethical dilemmas• Ethics considerations and applications for forensic work, including how to ethically write reports, testify, and make use of neuroimaging technologies, psychological test results, and violence risk assessments• Hot-button topics, such as physician-assisted death, abortion, Second Amendment rights, capital cases, the "duty to warn" third parties, and involuntary outpatient commitment

With practical guidance in each chapter bolstered by conclusions that reprise the most important information, Forensic Neuropsychiatric Ethics is a pivotal reference for mental health clinicians committed to promoting both justice and respect for individuals while engaging in forensic work.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Contributors
• Foreword
• 1 The Modern History and Evolution of Forensic Psychiatric Ethics Leading Up to Dialectical Principlism
• 2 Dialectical Principlism
• 3 Narrative and Ethics in Forensic Psychiatry
• 4 Robust Professionalism: Forensic Psychiatry’s Identity and Purpose
• 5 Ethical Report Writing
• 6 Ethical Challenges While Testifying
• 7 Ethical Implications for the Use of Neuroscience, Neuroimaging, and Artificial Intelligence in the Courtroom
• 8 Ethical Issues in the Forensic Psychiatric Use of Psychological and Neuropsychological Testing
• 9 How to Interpret the Role of the Forensic Psychiatrist to Promote Ethical Work
• 10 Is Impartiality Attainable in Forensic Work? Managing Bias and Subjectivity in Psychiatric Expert Testimony
• 11 Death Penalty: Ethics Considerations for Participating in Capital Cases
• 12 The Tarasoff Duty to Protect: Unintended Consequences and New Liability Concerns
• 13 Balancing Ethical Considerations for Assisted Outpatient Treatment
• 14 Ethical Issues in Forensic Psychiatry: Mental Health Firearm Prohibitions
• 15 Ethical Challenges When Interacting With Professional Organizations, Governmental Agencies, and Community Mental Health Programs
• 16 Ethical Challenges Regarding Informed Consent, Reporting Laws, and Confidentiality Violations
• 17 Termination of Pregnancy, Ethics, and Decisional Capacity
• 18 Clinical Requests for Hastened Death in Individuals With Mental Illness: An Examination of Advance Directives and Physician Assistance in Dying
• 19 Structural and Implicit Bias in Violence Risk Assessments
• 20 Structural Racism and Ethics
• 21 Priority-Setting in the COVID Pandemic: Perspectives From Sweden
• Index