Most clinicians take great care to maintain an ethical and legally compliant practice. Yet, despite these efforts there are still instances where consultation with available written materials and other clinicians yields incomplete answers. Clinicians have several options for additional help when the...

A previous post discussed the origins and development of informed consent. Hopefully that provides a good basis for understanding this post, which is a discussion about what informed consent is and isn’t. Many clinicians have come to know informed consent as a form, when it is in fact a discussion....

On May 10th, 2007, the California Court of Appeal for the Third Appellate District addressed the longstanding question of whether juvenile respondents may be found incompetent to stand trial based upon age-related developmental immaturity, or whether such a finding must be predicated on a “mental disorder”...

When asked about informed consent, most clinicians readily identify it as a piece of paper that is signed toward the beginning of a professional encounter. This is true. However, the real truth is that informed consent is actually much more. Surprisingly, an explanation of informed consent also requires...