Am J Psychiatry 1990; 147:419-427
Copyright © 1990 by American Psychiatric Association
Law, science, and psychiatric malpractice: a response to Klerman's indictment of psychoanalytic psychiatry
AA Stone
Faculty of Law, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138.
The Osheroff litigation, which is central to Klerman's paper, ended in an
out-of-court settlement. The author states that there is no legal precedent
for the so-called right to effective treatment and that the case history
was a much more complicated clinical scenario than Klerman reports. He
concludes that there is neither in the law nor in the clinical facts a
sound or certain basis for Klerman's conclusions or for the sweeping policy
reforms and standardized clinical procedures he urges. Although they are
directed against traditional psychoanalytic psychiatrists, Klerman's
proposals could have serious consequences for the innovation, diversity,
and independent thought essential to scientific progress in psychiatry.
