ABSTRACT
The public might be forgiven for believing that all ‘mental health professionals’ are ethically minded and that their practice is bounded by powerful ethical codes, informed by the latest developments in medical ethics. Indeed, this might also be an accurate representation of the professional’s self-image. When ethical problems emerge, it is assumed that professionals will have worked out how to deal with them. As noted in Chapter 2, what could possibly be so difficult? In their popular textbook on psychiatric ethics, Bloch, Chodoff and Green took a different
view, acknowledging that psychiatric life rarely was that straightforward:
It is always tempting, but equally hazardous, to assist the psychiatrist by offering guidelines for ethical conduct. Immutable ethical rules are simply not available. Rather, ethical decision-making depends on the individual in association with professional peers and their well-considered reflections to act in morally appropriate ways. Guidelines may be set but are, unlike laws, unenforceable. Moreover, a code of ethics or conduct can only be expressed in general terms. Psychiatrists remain responsible for making ethical decisions in specific cases.1
