Am J Psychiatry 1978; 135:157-163
Copyright © 1978 by American Psychiatric Association
Ethics in the practice of psychiatry--origins, functions, models, and enforcement
RA Moore
The author points out that psychiatric ethics are coming under increasing
critical scrutiny by psychiatrists and by those outside of the profession.
On the basis of an examination of APA Ethics Committee records, he
concludes that criticism of psychiatry's inability to police itself might
have some merit but cautions that the critics might be expecting too much
from a code of ethics, which has the job of sensitizing psychiatrists to an
ethical way of professional life and helping sort out ethical conflicts.
After outlining a number of the problems in the self-policing aspect of
ethics, the author makes suggestions for their resolution.
