Reference no: EM133408708

Case Study: Professional values and biases significantly influence group and family therapy. When engaged in treatment, professionals must be careful to act competently. Counsellors and therapists in the community and private practice settings must wrestle with conflict-of-interest dilemmas. The ethical and legal issues are significantly critical to those who are facing community counsellors. Acting ethically means being an as competent professional, recognizing the well-being of the client as dominant, responsible for exercising power and acting to raise the reputation of the profession.

Robert Haines was discharged from the hospital following treatment for chronic schizophrenia under multidisciplinary team care that included Dr. Bellissimo, a psychologist. A short time later, Mrs. Haines discovered the shotgun in their garage and telephoned Dr. Bellissimo, who then asked Mr. Haines to return to the hospital, which he did. Dr. Bellissimo assessed Mr. Haines's risk of suicide as not imminent, and they arranged to accompany him home to take possession of the gun. However, when they arrived, it took more than three hours for Dr. Bellissimo to persuade Mr. Haines to surrender the gun. Later that night, Dr. Bellissimo telephoned Mr. Haines to check on his mental status and deemed him to be "all right." The next day, Mr. Haines purchased another gun and fatally shot himself. Mrs. Haines sued Dr. Bellissimo for malpractice.

Question: Do you think that counsellors do not need to feel accountable for their actions if they feel like they have made the best judgement even if it means their client cause risk to themselves and others?