title: Making the case for ethics consults in community mental health centers.
abstract: Practitioners in community mental health center (CMHC) settings face an environment of vast and ever-increasing ethical complexities, in which there are both emergent dilemmas and ongoing ethical tensions created through competing treatment paradigms. CMHCs clients are a highly vulnerable population due to lower socio-economic status, possibly compromised mental functioning, and societal stigmatization. While many healthcare institutions serving vulnerable individuals offer access to clinical ethics consultations, consults are not routinely available at CMHCs. In this article, we explore the need for ethics consults in CMHCs, propose possible benefits and costs of ethics consultations, and offer suggestions for incorporating consults at CMHCs.
authors.affiliation: Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, 10900 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44106-7164, USA. jmh7@po.cwru.edu
authors.forename: Janet
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hoy
authors.forename: Erika
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Feigenbaum
mesh_terms: D003156:Community Mental Health Services / Q000941:ethics* / Q000458:organization & administration; D004995:Ethics, Professional; D006801:Humans; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000191:economics / Q000941:ethics*; D014481:United States