Changing law and clinical dilemmas

The author describes a case in which a severely depressed suicidal patient was treated with ECT despite her refusal to grant permission while involuntary commitment procedures were pending. He discusses the professional dilemmas caused by new, and sometimes conflicting, legal principles such as the right to treatment and the right to refuse treatment and suggests that psychiatrists work to clarify these principles while saftguarding themselves with the aid of appropriate legal counsel.