All About This Forum

Welcome to the "Legal Issues" forum, where you and I will be talking about interesting -- and sometimes thorny -- topics at the interface of clinical practice and the law. We'll be addressing things like standards of care for mental health professionals, common forensic practice activities, and risk management in clinical and forensic work. On the other hand, it's YOUR forum, and you'll determine the specific subjects.

Speaking of risk management, I need to add my disclaimer: This forum is intended for discussion purposes only. I am NOT an attorney. Although case examples may be presented, neither my comments nor any other part of this forum should be construed as clinical or legal advice. Participants are asked not to include personally identifying information in their comments, whether about patients or anyone else.

Let me start the ball rolling by listing the top vote-getters in a recent national survey (done by yours truly and Zeig, Tucker & Co., publishers). We asked psychologists and psychotherapists to list the forensic topics they found most important for their practices and their professions. The most common answers were:

• confidentiality (especially in managed care)
• managed care in general (including others' control over one's clinical practice)
• forensic topics
• dual relationships
• standards of care & professional competence
• sexual abuse
• sex with patients (including reporting it)
• boundary issues other than sex
• unethical or incompetent colleagues
• consent, and "litigious" patients

Please join in.

Bill Reid

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