What would you do if your family was starving and you could discretely steal a loaf of bread to feed them?

Legal and Ethical Issues

What would you do if your family was starving and you could discretely steal a loaf of bread to feed them? This is a legal and ethical dilemma. As you saw in the Learning Resources this week, legal and ethical dilemmas do occur in diagnosis and assessment, and they are intimately related; however, they do not always rest comfortably together. Although there may not always be clear answers to ethical and legal dilemmas, your ability to address them is a key factor in providing clients with the best possible care.

To prepare:

• Review this week’s Learning Resources.
• Focus on the APA ethics codes and the AP-LS specialty guidelines for forensic psychologists’.
• Go to NC website and review its legal and ethical guidelines.
• Consider any legal guidelines that may be in conflict with the ethical guidelines.
• If you noted differences between legal, ethical, and specialty guidelines, think about how would you reconcile them.