Mr. Burris also provides information that will assist the practitioner in assessing the degree of risk of malpractice in HIV-related clinical practice. Background information covered in the first six chapters of Section One provides both the context and rationale for the clinical decision-making model presented in the last chapter of Section One. All cases are written by a mental health clinician, an ethicist, and an attorney. The specific circumstances of each case were developed by a mental health clinician. The circumstances were created to reflect commonly occurring ethical challenges faced by mental health providers.
All cases follow the same format.
The mental health clinician summarizes the ethical issues posed by the case is provided, presents the case, and discusses initial personal reactions to the case. The clinician then outlines a tentative plan of action and obtains a consultation about ethical and legal issues. The ethical consultation is written by the ethicist and the legal consultation is written by the attorney. The case discussion is then completed by the clinical author who first considers and weighs the information gathered from the consultations and then develops, implements, and evaluates a plan of action. According to the model, when faced with an ethical challenge, clinicians should consult with knowledgeable colleagues and carefully consider both ethical and legal issues.