Therapeutic jurisprudence and conflicts among values in mental health law

Therapeutic Jurisprudence provides a conceptual framework for a research agenda designed to promote development of legal rules, procedures, and roles in a manner consistent with the therapeutic mission of the mental health system. As such, it draws attention to the tension between the jurisprudential values of autonomy and well-being that permeates mental health law specifically and the law and ethics of health care generally. This article advances an analysis of these values in the context of the patient-centered approach to health care. The article endorses a priority for the deontic aspect of autonomy over well-being but allows balancing of the consequentialist component of autonomy against well-being. Finally, it applies this framework to several traditionally difficult types of cases.