Use of Coercion in Mental Health

Use of Coercion in Mental Health

Introduction

According to the article written back in 2014 by Marit Helene Hem, Bert Molewijk & Reidar Pedersen which addresses, “Ethical challenges in connection with the use of coercion in mental healthcare,” defines several aspects such as coercion in mental healthcare. To them, coercive practices ethical challenges as it involves acting against the autonomy of an individual. In most cases, coercion, according to the law and regulation in healthcare, is the practice of forcing another party to act involuntarily by the use of force or threats. Generally, it involves pain or injury or psychological harm to enhance the creditability of the threat. The goal of this essay is to elaborate on the ethical dilemmas psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner faces in their line of duty and provides ethical decisions that might address the ethical dilemma faced.

The state law and regulation in Maryland provide room for patients to make decisions on when, where, and how and with whom they should receive treatment (Hem, Gjerberg, Husum & Pedersen, 2018). Therefore, every client in the healthcare premise needs to make decisions and not at any given point be violated in the process.

The three writers in their article explain the dilemmas, psychiatric nurses, practicing in mental healthcare faces, which might include providing quality health regardless of the urge to reduce coercion use and increase the participation of the patient. Furthermore, even as nurses try to develop ethical support criteria for mental health, it becomes hard from the procedures assigned in conducting coercion—generally, the notion of what good care and treatment constitute when the link to coercion is lost. At the same time, regardless, the psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner might be in a dilemma as he/she is obligated to the provision of good healthcare to the patient.

Such incidence, as elaborated in the article, further affects the nurse’s health as even with coercion use regardless, they are obligated to provide good healthcare to the patient. Moreover, in the most discussion, psychiatrists have explained how competing demands are connected to their duties. Despite that, they are expected to indicate fidelity both to the patients and the public. Psychiatrists have witnessed bad conscience and fear due to physically restraining mental health patients.

Besides that, Maryland State Health Laws and Regulations elaborates on how a patient should be treated softly and as opposed to the nurse’s practical method in coercion where medication is forced, isolation, and the use of belts to the patients (Law, 2018). It is, therefore, essential to reflect on the pros and cons of coercion in mental healthcare and to always involve the patient to decide the treatment they should receive. In short, the use of coercion in mental health care has various ethical problems which, however, are common to the psychiatric nurse practitioners in Maryland. Moreover, with the basic principles of ethics having informed consent, it is essential to engage the patient to choose why, when, and with whom they want the coercion to be done specifically and even to seek alternative treatments further where necessary.

References

Hem, M. H., Gjerberg, E., Husum, T. L., & Pedersen, R. (2018). Ethical challenges when using coercion in mental healthcare: a systematic literature review. Nursing Ethics, 25(1), 92-110.

Law, M. C. (2018). Law & Health Care. digitalcommons.law.umaryland.edu

Marit Helene Hem, Bert Molewijk & Reidar Pedersen (2014). Ethical challenges in connection with the use of coercion: a focus group study of health care personnel in mental health care. BMC Medical Ethics volume 15, Article number: 82 (2014)

Most of the time, according to Marit Helene Hem, Bert Molewijk, and Reidar Pedersen, 2014, ethical challenges take place where there is a threat to autonomy, which affects the patient’s health.