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D N Bersoff

Publications and source records attributed to D N Bersoff.

9 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1996

Process and procedures for dealing with misconduct: a necessity or a nightmare?

After a scientific and professional association has developed a code of ethics, it must develop a set of procedures to investigate, adjudicate, and enforce the code's provisions. The author, who is a scientist and an attorney, describes and discusses the fundamental legal principles that must be adhered to so that complaints against members can be adjudicated fairly, objectively, and with little legal risk to the association. The paper defines the concept of due process as it applies to private, non-profit associations and provides an example of how one professional and scientific association actually goes about adjudicating claims of misconduct against its members. It also informs associations about the liability risks that may confront them when they enforce a code of ethics, offers suggestions of how to manage those risks successfully, and concludes by cataloguing some of the financial burdens enforcement entails.

Biomedical Research↗
PubMed1994

Legal issues in the assessment and treatment of individuals with dual diagnoses.

The difficult legal, ethical, and professional issues confronting psychologists who work with people with dual diagnoses are discussed here. Applicable constitutional principles are outlined in the context of discussing the right to institutional services and to refuse treatment, statutes that go beyond constitutional protections are described, issues that people with dual diagnoses face in the criminal and civil justice systems are highlighted, and some recommendations that psychologists should consider when providing services to this population are offered.

Civil Rights↗
PubMed1994

Explicit ambiguity: the 1992 ethics code as an oxymoron.

The author reviews the major themes emerging from commentators' reactions to the 1992 American Psychological Association ethics code and presents his own views as well. Commentators agreed that the 1992 code is improved by its increased breadth and specific attention to important issues not addressed in the previous code but criticized the code for its lack of clarity, its rampant qualifying language, and for seeming to protect the profession rather than the public. The author, finding the code overly long, detailed, and lawyered, recommends that those who revise the code in the 21st century adhere more closely to fundamental moral principles.

Codes of Ethics↗
PubMed1991

APA amicus curiae briefs. Furthering lesbian and gay male civil rights.

The authors describe the American Psychological Association's (APA's) efforts to affect social policy and judicial decision making by delineating APA's participation as amicus curiae in five cases concerning the civil rights of lesbians and gay men. They discuss the function and importance of amicus briefs, review the legal principles used to advance the constitutional rights of lesbians and gay men, outline the facts in the cases APA entered, sketch the legal theories and scientific evidence that APA brought to the courts' attention, and relate the courts' decisions in those cases. They conclude with recommendations for the use of such briefs in future litigation and legislative efforts to advance the rights of lesbians and gay men.

Civil Rights↗