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15 Reid 11-02.qxd 11/13/02 3:35 PM Page 380 Law and Psychiatry Ethics and Forensic Work WILLIAM H. REID, MD, MPH Call for Forensic Topics. I want to make this col- codes, principles, or guidelines are created by specific umn as interesting and useful to readers as possible. organizations and apply only to their members. None of Please send suggestions for future column topics to these has anything to do with the law. P.O. Box 4015, Horseshoe Bay, TX 78657, or e-mail them to reidw@. Ethics “Enforcement” Is Quite Limited Ethical codes, principles, guidelines, and exhortations This column will address both “formal” professional are not legally enforceable unless they have been incor- ethics codes and less formal (often generic) ethics, such porated into the law (in which case they have moved as those suggested by philosophical or societal moral beyond the realm of “ethics” addressed here; we will not concepts, but will focus on the former. Websites contain- discuss what happens if one breaks the law). As a prac- ing the ethics codes and principles of several profession- tical matter, ethical breaches may result in some pun- al organizations are listed in Table 1; many other ishment by a professional organization, provided 1) organizations (e.g., for nurses, family therapists, social