The authors briefly describe and then apply a new method--applied
clinical ethics--for identifying and working with ethical problems. This
method, starting from the clinical context, develops ethical constructs
that may be tested in clinical practice and revised if required. The work
was done in the context of a combined university- county forensic
psychiatric service. The authors discuss three of the identified ethical
issues: effects of deinstitutionalization, countertransference with
forensic populations, and prediction of dangerousness. They discuss the
basis for developing ethical norms from clinical experience and suggest
ethical guidelines for medical practice.
Abstract Teaser