Ethics-Glossary Legal Terms

Front 1

Malpractice

Back 1

- legal concept that involves negligence
- Failure to render professional services or to exercise the degree of skill that is ordinarily expected of other professionals in a similar situation (Corey, Corey, & Callanan, 2011, p. 195)

Front 2

Professional Negligence

Back 2

- results from unjustified departure form usual practice or from failing to exercise proper care in fulfilling one's responsibilities (Corey, Corey, & Callanan, 2011, p. 195)

Front 3

Standard of Care

Back 3

- Standards commonly accepted by the profession by which clinicians are judged
- Course of action that a reasonable prudent counselor in a similar circumstance would act in (Corey, Corey, & Callanan, 2011, p. 195)

Front 4

Elements required to succeed in malpractice claim

Back 4

1) Legal Duty : professional relationship where therapist implicitly or explicitly agrees to provide mental health services

2) Breach of duty: therapist must have acted in a negligent or improper manner, or have deviated from “standard of care” by not providing services that are considered “standard of practice in community” 

3) Injury: client must have suffered harm (physically, relationally, psychologically ex. wrongful death(suicide), loss(divorce), pain) which must be verified 

4) Causation: legally demonstrated causal relationship b/w the practitioner’s negligence or breach of duty and the damage or injury claimed by the client i.e would have not occurred if it were not d/t practitioner’s actions/omissions

*Note: ALL FOUR elements must be proven (Corey, Corey, & Callanan, 2011, p. 196)

Front 5

Termination

Back 5

- ethically and clinically appropriate process by which a professional relationship is ended ( Corey, Corey, & Callanan, 2011, p. 198)

Front 6

Abandonment

Back 6

- failure by psychologist to take the clinically indicated and ethically appropriate steps to terminate a professional relationship (Corey, Corey, & Callanan, 2011, p. 198)

Front 7

Informed Consent

Back 7

-right of clients to be informed about their therapy and to make autonomous decision pertaining to it;
- completed via a informed consent document which
- define boundaries
- clarifies nature of basic counseling relationship
- disclose risks, benefits and alternatives to proposed treatment
- reasonable disclosure of significant facts, nature of the procedure and some of the more probably consequences and difficulties

(Corey, Corey, & Callanan, 2011, p. 160-161)

Front 8

Social Justice Advocacy

Back 8

- professional practice, research, or scholarship intended to identify and intervene in social policies and practices that have a negative impact on the mental health of clients who are marginalized on the basis of social status (Corey, Corey, & Callanan, 2011, p. 519)