Legal issues in the treatment of adolescent psychiatric inpatients.
When planning a specialized adolescent treatment unit for a regional state mental hospital in North Carolina, staff of the child psychiatry training program explored several critical legal issues surrounding the admission, treatment, and discharge of minors, as well as issues of confidentiality. Through a question-and-answer format they conclude that, to help avoid conditions that could result in successful litigation against the hospital, parents, adolescents, and staff must have a documented, mutual agreement to and understanding of the techniques, procedures, and limitations of the treatment program. Such documentation could be provided through a signed treatment contract.
D000293:Adolescent; D000359:Aftercare; D032763:Behavior Control; D001521:Behavior Therapy; D002651:Child Advocacy; D002961:Civil Rights; D003134:Commitment of Persons with Psychiatric Disorders; D003219:Confidentiality; D006040:Goals; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D007258:Informed Consent; D007603:Jurisprudence; D008499:Medical Records; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D028642:Persons with Psychiatric Disorders; D009657:North Carolina; D033282:Parental Consent; D010290:Parents