Ethical issues in the evaluation and treatment of death row inmates.
OBJECTIVE
To summarize recent ethical analyses of psychiatrists' participation in the evaluation and treatment of death row inmates.


RESULTS
Psychiatric participation in death penalty cases remains highly controversial in the United States, whereas there appears to be a more worldwide consensus that it is ethically inappropriate.


CONCLUSIONS
Psychiatrists working in death penalty settings are functioning in a complex ethical arena, and must consider the implications of their decisions to participate and/or abstain from various activities with great care and attention to the circumstances of the individual cases at hand.
Matthews
Daryl
D
Department of Psychiatry, John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. dmatthews@jhu.edu
Wendler
Sheila
S
D002203:Capital Punishment / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy; D003416:Criminal Law / Q000941:ethics* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D003617:Dangerous Behavior; D006801:Humans; D016743:Mental Competency / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D011329:Prisoners / Q000523:psychology*; D014481:United States