[Electroconvulsive therapy in nonconsenting patients].

CONCLUSION: The use of ECT is a highly effective treatment in severe psychiatric disorders even when administered as treatment in nonconsenting patients. It can be lifesaving and lead to a rapid improvement of symptoms and relief from severe suffering also from the patients' perspective. Thus, it seems unethical not to consider ECT as a treatment against the nonautonomous will of legally incompetent patients in individual cases. Nevertheless, physicians should always seek to obtain the patients' consent as soon as possible for both legal and ethical reasons. PMID: 26781243 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Der Nervenarzt - Category: Neurology Authors: Tags: Nervenarzt Source Type: research