Legal and Ethical Issues Related to Psychiatric Emergencies NRNP 6675 Legal and Ethical Issues Related to Psychiatric Emergencies NRNP 6675 Legal and Ethical Issues Related To Psychiatric Emergencies Sample Paper California State Laws For Involuntary Psychiatric Hold

Legal and Ethical Issues Related to Psychiatric Emergencies NRNP 6675

Legal and Ethical Issues Related to Psychiatric Emergencies NRNP 6675

Legal and Ethical Issues Related To Psychiatric Emergencies Sample Paper

California State Laws For Involuntary Psychiatric Hold

In California, individuals can be helped in psychiatric facilities without consent if it is determined that one is a danger to others, themselves, or gravely disabled. Under California law, only designated professional personnel can place individuals on a 72-hour hold, known as a 5150 hold (Zakhari, 2021). The experienced personnel includes police officers, members of the mobile crisis team, and other mental health professionals authorized by the country.

There must be paperwork stating the circumstances under which the person’s condition was called to the officers’ attention and the probable cause for believing the individual is a danger to themselves or others (Sadock et al., 2015). After 72 hours, individuals may be released. They may sign in as voluntary patients and can be put under the 14 days 5250 involuntary hold.

Differences Among Emergency Hospitalization For Psychiatric Hold, Inpatient Commitment, And Outpatient Commitment

In inpatient commitment, people are committed to mental illness and being a danger to themselves and others. These need to be presented to the magistrate in the community in the form of a petition (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, 2019). It includes information from someone who has direct knowledge of the issue. Outpatient commitment is a civil commitment in which the court orders individuals to comply with specific outpatient treatment programs (Sadock et al., 2015). The legal authority for the outpatient commitment is the state parens patriae power, which protects disabled individuals, and police power, which involves protecting others (Buppert, 2021).

Differences between Capacity and Competency

Competence is the global assessment and legal determination of mental health status made by a judge in court (Zakhari, 2021). Capacity is determined by physicians familiar with the patient’s case based on the functional assessment and clinical determination.

Patient Autonomy in Psychiatric Emergencies

Informed consent is the process where clinicians honor the patient’s autonomy. Consequently, patients understand the benefits and risks of treatment and therefore accept or refuse the treatment (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, 2019). The patient’s decision-making capacity should be assessed for communication, understanding, appreciation, and reasoning unless compelling additional concerns, and the patient’s confidentiality should be maintained (Thapar et al., 2015). In psychiatric emergencies, the physicians have the power to act as state agents.

Evidence-Based Suicide Risk Assessment and Violence Risk Assessment

The patient health questionnaire (PHQ-9) is the most commonly used screening tool for depression. It also covers suicidal ideation. Therefore, it is used to assess suicidal risk among patients in the clinical setting (Blakey et al., 2019). Item nine of the assessment tool evaluates the passive thoughts of death and self-injury in the last two weeks. The Broset violence checklist (BVC) is a short-term violence prediction instrument that assesses irritability, confusion, verbal threats, boisterousness, attacks on objects, and physical threats which are either absent or present.

The BVC is an effective tool for predicting inpatient violence in the coming 24 hours. The instrument’s psychometric characteristics are excellent (Blakey et al., 2019). The results of ongoing research will provide critical information on cultural differences, the BVC’s validity in understaffed wards, clinical usage of the checklist, and its capacity to predict violence throughout the hospital stay.

References

Blakey, S. M., Wagner, H. R., Naylor, J., Brancu, M., Lane, I., Sallee, M., & Elbogen, E. B. (2019). Chronic pain, TBI, and PTSD in military veterans: a link to suicidal ideation and violent impulses? The Journal of Pain, 19(7), 797-806.

Buppert, C. (2021). Nurse practitioner\’s business practice and legal guide (7th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Sadock, B. J., Sadock, V. A., & Ruiz, P. (2015). Kaplan & Sadock’s synopsis of psychiatry (11th ed.). Wolters Kluwer.

Thapar, A., Pine, D. S., Leckman, J. F., Scott, S., Snowling, M. J., & Taylor, E. A. (Eds.).