Ethics Committee

APA Ethics Committee Opinion

2017 Ethics Committee Report (Donald Condie, MD)

Ethics Committee referrals are by their nature confidential and cannot be shared unless a final determination of unethical conduct has been made. It is however reasonable to remind the Council and all members of the Massachusetts Psychiatric Society that the Goldwater Rule (section 7.3 of the Principles of Medical Ethics with Annotations Especially Applicable to Psychiatry) was restated March 15, 2017 by the APA Ethics Committee. That restatement clarifies that attempts to claim exceptions to the Goldwater Rule based on, for example, a “duty to warn” are not considered valid exceptions and continue to be viewed as unethical conduct is engaged in by any member of APA.

The MPS Ethics Committee is also awaiting further clarifications from the APA Ethics Committee based on inquiries made by MPS regarding APA’s procedures if certain ethical violations are alleged to have occurred when those alleged violations are only known to the complainant through news reports.