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Doctors on tribunals. A confusion of roles
1Department of Law, Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London.
Background:
Mental health review tribunals are required to apply legal criteria within a clinical context. This can create tensions within both law and psychiatry.
Aims:
To examine the role of the medical member of the tribunal as a possible mediator between the two disciplines.
Method:
Observation of tribunal hearings and panel deliberations and interviews with tribunal members were used to describe the role of the medical member.
Results:
The dual roles imposed on the medical member as witness and decision-maker and as doctor and legal actor create formal demands and ethical conflicts that are hard, in practice, either to meet or to resolve.
Conclusions:
The structure for providing tribunals with access to expert psychiatric input and advice requires reconsideration.