3 Mental Health Rights to Be Aware Of
Few professions are as emotionally taxing as the mental health profession. The field is relatively new and requires staying on top of research and development, which means if you aren't careful as a professional, you could violate rights that you didn't know were protected.
Today, take a look at some of the most commonly contested mental health rights and take whatever steps you must to prevent your practice from infringing on them.
1. Confidentiality
For psychologists, psychiatrists, and any kind of counselor, one of the most common issues that may occur is a violation of patient confidentiality. Especially when the patient is a minor or under the care of another adult, a therapist will often feel responsible to inform the caretaker of some issues the patient faces. When the patient becomes harmful to self or others, the concern becomes necessary.
Despite the professional's intrinsic desire to help their patients, many ethical issues are rooted in any form of a confidentiality breach, where the plaintiff asserts that the doctor shared private information without consent. To avoid some of these suits, you can share as little as possible if you find you must break confidentiality, but bear in mind that your legal duty to report in certain cases will supersede these concerns and likely win your case.
2. Refusal of Treatment
Except for within a narrow set of circumstances, mental health patients are considered fully autonomous and are able to make decisions about their lives, including the treatments they will and will not accept. Your job, as their mental health professional, is to present them with options that will help them get through life, not force them along any specific path.
Mental health is a process that each person must go through for themselves, and forcing any particular treatment will only damage your relationship with your patient without doing any good. Avoid charges of forced or coerced treatment by keeping careful records of any agreements you and your patient make, as well as copies of the prescriptions or therapy assignments you might give them.
Advance directives are making their way onto the scene as a helpful way to let mental health patients retain some level of autonomy. When the patient is in a healthy state of mind, you can help them work through their preferred treatment options if a crisis occurs where they cannot make wise decisions. Having this in writing will help protect them from treatments they don't want and protect you from accusations of using force.
3. Informed Consent
Of course, your patients won't be able to make these decisions without understanding their position and their options, which falls to you and their other medical professionals to explain. In every case, the patient should feel that they have the information necessary to determine what they would prefer and how they need to receive treatment.
You can foster that sense of being informed if you strive to break down barriers to understanding as much as you can with each patient. While they may not be able to grasp all of the intricacies that come from your study of their conditions, if they feel that you explained everything well, you're less likely to receive a charge of coercing treatment via lack of information.
For any legal issues in the medical field, you'll need a lawyer who can fight to defend you. Look no further than Spiga and Associates. We've been fighting to protect the rights and licenses of medical professionals for 28 years, in over 100 distinct cases. Contact us today and see how we can advocate for you in an arduous legal world.
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