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Abstract
Forensic psychiatry has been described as a ‘moral minefield’. The competing obligations at the interface of the justice and healthcare systems raise questions about the very viability of an ethical framework for guiding practice. The explicit need for security and detention, and the implicit ‘untrustworthiness’ of forensic patients shape practitioners' everyday reality. Suspicion colors client–practitioner relationship and fundamental care concepts, such as patient advocacy, take on different nuances in this milieu. Despite the complex ethical demands of this unique practice area, it has received little attention within mainstream bioethics. There is, however, a growing imperative to find a theory of ethics for the specialty. In this article, the ethics of forensic psychiatry is examined, and it is argued that relational ethics is a fitting framework for forensic practice and, further, that forensic settings are the very place to test the validity of such an ethic.
Notes
1. For the purposes of this article, the term forensic psychiatric environments or settings is used to encompass outpatient programs, as well as traditional correctional institutions and forensic units within psychiatric hospital.
2. In Canada, a person who commits an offence but is unable to under the nature of the act due to a mental disorder may be deemed Not Criminally Responsible under Section 16(1) of the Criminal Code of Canada. Assessments made by forensic psychiatric professionals provide essential information for judges to determine the degree to which a person's mental disorder has incapacitated their ability to understand their actions.
3. No citation has been provided to avoid further harm to the practitioner or his client. Please contact the first author should information about the case be requested.