Table 3 Typical ethical challenges within the three main topics
1. Clinicians and their relation to patients and relatives | 2. Clinicians and institutional aspects of mental healthcare | 3. Clinicians and their relation to mental healthcare in a wider social context |
|---|---|---|
EX 1. Paternalism or respect for the way of life of a psychotic patient EX 2.Powerlessness – when is further treatment futile? EX 3. Involvement relatives: violation of patient autonomy in order to protect the relation with a son EX 4. Solidarity with the patient or respect for a decision made by a colleague | EX 5. Moral distress due to scarce resources EX 6. When an action performed in the best interest of the patient might escalate and be contrary to health legislation EX 7. How to act in the best interest of the patient in a context of conflicting guidelines EX 8. Generalized guidelines are asked for when individual professional judgement is too difficult | EX 9. When easy and quick access to electronic patient records might harm the patient EX 10. To secure privacy of the patient, a psychiatrist refrains from documenting in the electronic patient record EX 11. Is the privacy of the patient violated when the social worker uses Facebook to obtain information? EX 12. When the work of the police is more important than the mental healthcare of the patient |