Forced medication in mental health Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Forced medication in mental health - Essay Example Scholars in the nursing professions have emphasized the inconsistency and contradiction between forced medication or involuntary treatment and components of professional ethical guidelines. Ethical codes usually require freewill or constraint in the part of clients only when threat is probable and imminent. Other scholars firmly oppose this observed contradiction between nursing principles and involuntary treatment; they refer to the right of clients to treatment, not only his/her right to say no to medication, as an essential matter (Freckelton & Lesser, 2003). Yet others argue that taking a stand in this debate draws away the attention of mental health professionals from more crucial issues about the quality of mental health services. Judgments aside, for a large number of mental health professionals, exercising involuntary treatments or forcible medications has become an essential part of their professional obligations. These professionals may frequently admit clients under involu ntary directives or assist court orders for outpatient treatment and medication (Hayes et al., 2007). Numerous professionals are now confronted with the challenge of discussing complicated and problematic decisions with clients who pursue treatment under court orders. Similarly, because forced medication for mental disorder is perhaps as persistent as mental disorder itself, numerous mental health clients with severe and chronic mental disorders will undergo such medication over the course of their disorder (Freckelton & Lesser, 2003). Usually, forced mental health procedures may be given as a ‘crisis stabilization’ type of hospitalization in case of probable threat to the client or to others (Shally-Jensen, 2013, 369). Several states are increasingly implementing outpatient authorized treatment that preferably administers ‘assisted treatment’ (Shally-Jensen, 2013, 369) with additional resources and further implications if treatment procedures are not follo wed. Moral and Ethical Issues of Forced Medication in Mental Health Care Mental disorder can be a dreadful misfortune affecting not just the patient but family members, communities, and the society as well. Numerous mentally ill individuals do not have the capacity to take care of or protect themselves, and they could be a threat to themselves or others. In Canada, custodians or substitutes should make treatment decisions for them. Making treatment decisions for those who have mental disorders raises several moral, ethical, and legal issues (Swartz & Swanson, 2004). Several of the disturbing questions are as follows (Devettere, 2010, 111): Is it moral to place the mentally ill in institutions against their will simply because they might harm themselves or others? Is it moral to force treatment on them, most especially drugs or surgery or shock treatments, against their will? Is their informed consent for treatment truly voluntary if we have made it clear to them that they will be co nfined to an institution if they do not accept the treatment? Mental disorder is an ambiguously defined concept. It includes a broad array of disorder from the fairly mild to severe, and the classifications applied by the American Psychiatric Association are quite broad that health care professionals have great latitude in making a diagnosis of patients’ behavioral patterns (Devettere, 2010, 111). This makes it particularly crucial to take into account the ethical or moral repercussions of involuntary treatment or forced