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Ethical, Legal and Forensic Issues in Geriatric Psychiatry

  • Geriatric Disorders (W McDonald, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Purpose of the Review

To evaluate the ethical, legal and forensic issues that is faced by the older adult population.

Recent Findings

Many older individuals will face a host of ethical, medical and legal issues associated with their care. Most prominent among these issues are the maintenance of autonomy while ensuring their safety and the safety of individuals who care for them. Decisions regarding end of life including the formulation of advance directives add to the complexity of care for these older adults. A significant portion of individuals in the criminal justice system are aging and many of these individuals have psychiatric disorders. Their care is compromised due to the lack of appropriate services within criminal justice system for providing care for these individuals.

Conclusions

Ethical, legal and forensic issues among older are not uncommon and complicate the care of these vulnerable individuals.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, MetroHealth, 2500 MetroHealth Drive, Cleveland, OH, 44109, USA

    Rajesh R. Tampi, Juan Young & Silpa Balachandran

  2. Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, OH, USA

    Rajesh R. Tampi, Juan Young & Silpa Balachandran

  3. Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA

    Dhweeja Dasarathy

  4. Diamond Healthcare, Richmond, VA, USA

    Deena Tampi

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  1. Rajesh R. Tampi
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Correspondence to Rajesh R. Tampi.

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Conflict of Interest

Juan Young, Silpa Balachandran, Dhweeja Dasarathy and Deena Tampi declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Rajesh R. Tampi receives honorarium from Oakstone and royalties from Lippincott Williams & Wilkins and Oxford University Press.

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This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Geriatric Disorders

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Tampi, R.R., Young, J., Balachandran, S. et al. Ethical, Legal and Forensic Issues in Geriatric Psychiatry. Curr Psychiatry Rep 20, 1 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-018-0865-3

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