Risk Management

This article explains and demonstrates the importance of psychiatric advance directives and the benefits and obstacles involved in implementing them.

American psychiatrists might be able to sympathize in the wake of recent mass tragedies leading to new, hastily conceived laws that directly impinge on psychiatric practice, confidentiality, and duty to protect third parties.

On December 18, 2012, French psychiatrist Daniele Canarelli, age 58, received a 1-year suspended prison sentence by the Criminal Court of Marseille after one of her patients killed someone.

Both clinicians and weather forecasters employ the same general process of information gathering, analysis, and reaching a conclusion.

Can patient care still be your greatest concern, given today’s litigious landscape? Does patient-focused care need to take a back seat against protecting yourself from malpractice?

What steps should you take to avoid being sued? The answer to this all important question can be heard in this video, which stars Skip Simpson, a nationally recognized attorney who has spent his career litigating medical malpractice case

Clinical tools and intervention options are available to the psychiatrist treating the suicidal patient. The severity of the patient’s psychiatric condition and the clinician’s experience and training will determine the interventions.

The California Supreme Court’s decision in the Tarasoff case over 30 years ago has become a standard part of mental health practice. This case influenced the legal requirements governing therapists’ duty to protect third parties in nearly every state in the US.

Cases that come to our attention as malpractice claims, ethics claims, or Board of Registration complaints raise the question: why did the treating clinician not terminate the treatment before things got so out of hand?

In treating a female who sexually abuses a minor, what should the clinician keep in mind? Is the treatment plan different for a female offender than a male?

Insight can be assessed in the course of a typical evaluation or follow-up interview with augmentation by questions borrowed from any of the validated insight rating scales.

Being a psychotherapist is a complicated job. Not only must you be knowledgeable about human behavior, psychodynamics, and various techniques of doing therapy, but you have to be prepared for unexpected dilemmas.

Mrs E, who is 80 years old, lives in the community with the help of a 24-hour-a-day home health aide. She is forgetful and requires assistance with many activities of daily living.

Here we present how to assess safely patients who become oppositional or menacing in a clinic or office.

A history of trauma is most uniquely related to which psychiatric disorder? Which medical comorbidities are associated with an increased risk of suicide in older adults? These questions and more.

Here we address some of these problems of meaningless phrasing, empty shells, and template-distorted recording in an attempt to improve clinical documentation for both clinical care and risk management.

The purpose of suicide risk assessment is to identify treatable and modifiable risks and protective factors that inform the patient’s treatment and safety management requirements.

New technologies pose challenges in the need to maintain boundaries and confidentiality. The same boundaries and ethical standards that existed in the 20th century must be thoughtfully applied with all new and developing technologies of the 21st century.

What should clinicians do if they realize that they don’t like a particular patient who has come to them for help

The psychiatric emergency room (ER) is an intense, stressful work environment where psychiatrists must perform rapid assessments and make swift treatment decisions.

In a question-and-answer discussion with Dr Phillip Resnick, clinicians gained valuable insights into the legalities of psychiatry and how best to treat patients and protect the public (and themselves).

What Every Psychiatrist Needs to Know to Be Prepared

Decreasing the Clinician’s Risk

At the end of life, psychiatrists are often asked to assess a patient’s capacity to refuse treatment, but the role of the psychiatrist in this situation is much broader.

The CASE Approach is built to uncover pieces of a puzzle that enhance the likelihood of an accurate clinical formulation of risk.

It is my privilege and pleasure to highlight this Special Report on forensic psychiatry. (The first articles in this series appeared in the November issue and are posted on www.psychiatrictimes.com.) The respected authors provide us with the most recent thought on subjects that should be of interest to every practicing psychiatrist.

Practical approaches to integrating 3 aspects of a suicide assessment have been well delineated for adults and adolescents.

While violence is often portrayed in the media as related to persons with mental illnesses, there are limited research data to support this idea. This article reviews laws and obligations for mental health professionals.

The insanity defense represents a prominent symbol of the relationship between law and psychiatry. Despite the fact that it is infrequently raised and seldom successful, the insanity defense is the subject of intense legal and public scrutiny.

After a formal complaint alleging malpractice is made, the discovery phase of the litigation process begins. Discovery is the process in which the parties to a lawsuit go about gathering information before trial. The rationale behind discovery is to reduce surprises at trial and to encourage settlement before trial. Methods of discovery include written interrogatories, requests for documents, and depositions of various witnesses.