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Mental incapacity and consent to treatment: the Scottish experience
- Author:
- CRICHTON John
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Forensic Psychiatry, 11(2), September 2000, pp.457-464.
- Publisher:
- Routledge
The paper describes the current state of the law in Scotland relating to the management of adults who do not have the ability to consent to treatment. There are important differences in the nature and content of the common law relating to this subject between Scotland and England, which are described. This is a confusing area of law, which is acknowledged to be in need of reform. The Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000 addresses the issue. Briefly describes and discusses the Act.
The response of nursing staff to psychiatric inpatient misdemeanour
- Author:
- CRICHTON John
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Forensic Psychiatry, 8(1), May 1997, pp.36-61.
- Publisher:
- Routledge
Rule-breaking by psychiatric inpatients is introduced as a common problem, but, surprisingly, how staff respond to such behaviour has attracted little specific literature. It is a subject that raises complex and difficult questions of ethics, law and clinical practice. A sample of psychiatric nursing staff, from low-, medium- and maximum-security settings, took part in a decision-making exercise, designed to examine attitudes towards, and concepts of, patients' rule-breaking. A theoretical model is proposed, in which the response to patient misdemeanour involves three in inseparable components: containment of the unsafe; treatment of the underlying pathology; and moral censure. It is concluded that clinical policies and guidelines must recognise the influence of moral judgements, through education, staff support, supervision and mechanisms of appeal.