Patient rights, professional ethics, and situational dilemmas in mental health services

Patient rights, professional ethics and situational dilemmas in mental health services are discussed in terms of their interrelationships, with a major focus on voluntary clients and community-based services. Vignettes are provided under the headings of: I. The rights to respect, dignity, and non-discrimination; II. The rights to appropriate treatment, to consent and to refuse; III. The rights to least restrictive, least intrusive intervention; IV. The rights to confidentiality of personal information, to consent to or refuse release of records, and the right to peruse personal records. The author stresses that the rights and responsibilities of various parties must be balanced to arrive at the best decisions.