Legal and Ethical Challenges in the Psychiatric Treatment of College Students.

Abstract

This article will examine issues of autonomy, privacy, decision-making, and voluntariness of the psychiatric treatment of college students. There is little consensus on balancing the individual student's rights with the university's duties. Conflicts between federal legislation, case law, and ethical recommendations will be explored. Landmark legal cases assert that universities have a specific duty to protect their students from both violent peers and suicide. College students are vulnerable to a range of psychiatric symptoms but have low rates of adherence to psychiatric treatment. Many institutions require an urgent psychiatric evaluation when there is evidence that a student is at imminent risk of danger, and some may require psychiatric treatment as a condition of returning to either classes or dormitories. Legally, patients are entitled to privacy and autonomous medical decision-making at 18years of age. Pragmatically, dependence on parents and university for basic resources limits both the privacy and the voluntariness of their treatment.