Open to all MD’s, Medical Students, Residents, and Nurse Practitioners
Guest Speaker: Dr. Timothy Christie, Regional Director of Ethics Services for Horizon Health Network in New Brunswick, Canada. Previously, Dr. Christie held the position of Director of Ethics Services for the Atlantic Health Sciences Corporation and before returning to New Brunswick in 2006, he was the Health Care Ethicist for the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver.
In this presentation on involuntary treatment for substance use disorder, we explore the ethical balance between autonomy and beneficence, commonly known as the consequentialist-deontological dilemma. We examine whether policies should prioritize addressing the consequences of problematic substance use disorders or respect patients’ right to refuse treatment, acknowledging a form of deontology. Through a utilitarian framework, we assess whether the benefits of involuntary admissions justify the potential harms, recognizing current evidence as inconclusive. Our argument contends that for involuntary admissions to be ethically acceptable, there must be clear evidence of treatment benefit outweighing harm. However, we assert that coercive treatment should only be considered when there is a demonstrated loss of autonomous decision-making capacity.
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