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Welcome to the nexus of ethics, psychology, morality, technology, health care, and philosophy

Monday, September 14, 2015

Record-keeping controversies: Ethical, legal, and clinical challenges

By Ken Pope
Canadian Psychology
Vol. 56(3), August 2015, 348-356

Abstract

The growing array of record-keeping laws, ethical standards, and professional guidelines has created controversy and confusion. Clinicians struggle with what to leave in, what to leave out, how to handle records securely, when to respond to requests for records versus when to refuse, and so on. This article focuses on 5 challenging areas: confidentiality; informed consent; the state, the law, and legal requirements; third-parties; and the implications of research findings for record keeping. It discusses published claims, critiques, proposals for change, and research reports, particularly those of Bemister and Dobson (2011, 2012); Castonguay (2013); Christie, Bemister, and Dobson (2014); Furlong (2013); and Mills (2012). It emphasizes the potential problems with any “1 size fits all” approach and the difficulties in creating sensible regulations that do justice to the diversity of values, contexts, cultures, and theoretical orientations.

The entire article is here.