ABSTRACT
Therapists must work in accordance with the law and be familiar with any particular legal rules which affect their sphere of practice. There is a large degree of similarity between what is ethical and what is legal. Since morality and the law are often derived from the same Judaeo-Christian sources, one would expect this to be the case. An important difference between ethics and law is that ethical guidance aims to promote optimal standards of conduct. Determining what is ethical involves weighing up competing rights and considerations to arrive at the best outcome in the circumstances – or the least bad option, if all choices are problematic. The legal duty of care requires only that therapists act as a ‘reasonable practitioner’ would act in similar circumstances. If the common standard within a therapy is high, then the patient will be afforded a higher level of protection, but if standards within a profession are generally low, then the standard required of a reasonable practitioner will be correspondingly sub-optimal, and patients will not be very well protected.
