Psychiatrists face difficulties when deciding on treatment plans for patients who are not interested in receiving help or are lacking the capacity to make responsible decisions.

Psychiatrists face difficulties when deciding on treatment plans for patients who are not interested in receiving help or are lacking the capacity to make responsible decisions.

Psychiatrists face difficulties when deciding on treatment plans for patients who are not interested in receiving help or are lacking the capacity to make responsible decisions.

Refusals of psychotropic medication by detained criminal defendants raise conflicting dual loyalties for psychiatrists between the duty to treat a patient and the duty to protect society from that patient.

Overriding a proxy decision maker’s refusal of medication for a psychotic patient is justified when the patient poses a danger to himself or others.

Patients can refuse medical treatment, but physicians often question the patients' ability to make a responsible decision in a time of medical need.

Patients can refuse medical treatment, but physicians often question the patients' ability to make a responsible decision in a time of medical need.

Physicians treating adolescents need to give them the information to make intelligent and responsible decisions regarding sexual activity and reassure them of patient confidentiality.

Cases of elder self-neglect require physicians to balance the patient’s wish for independence and the risks of poor self-care.

The harms of communicating autism risk can be avoided by helping families to understand risk and to distinguish between poor and good sources of scientific information, which should take families’ interests into account.