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Judging Competence: When the Psychiatrist Need, or Need Not, Be Involved

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Competency

Part of the book series: Philosophy and Medicine ((PHME,volume 39))

Abstract

Although competency is a legal concept and, under the law, can only be determined by a judge, the clinical realities of patient care require that physicians often make their own assessments of whether a patient is competent or not [19].‘Psychological competency’ rather than ‘legal competency’is actually what physicians are determining. Although competency and capacity are used interchangeably, capacity properly is a narrower concept than competency.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Louisiana State University School of Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

    James A. Knight

Authors
  1. James A. Knight
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Philosophy, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, USA

    Mary Ann Gardell Cutter

  2. Foundation for Interfaith Research and Ministry, USA

    Earl E. Shelp

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© 1991 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Knight, J.A. (1991). Judging Competence: When the Psychiatrist Need, or Need Not, Be Involved. In: Cutter, M.A.G., Shelp, E.E. (eds) Competency. Philosophy and Medicine, vol 39. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-3614-3_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-3614-3_1

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-010-5603-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-011-3614-3

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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