Respect for dignity and forensic psychiatry

Respect for persons is one of forensic psychiatry's ethical principles. It is a principle that is usually laid down without conditions, raising the question of what aspect of someone's “personhood” might deserve our unconditional respect. This paper nominates dignity. One argument against respect for dignity as a principle is that anything it stands for can be subsumed into respecting people's autonomy. This seems not to be correct. Another argument has been that the term dignity has too often been used loosely and vaguely. This does not mean that the term itself is necesarily without value. Dignity seems to refer to something close to the moral meaning of “worth”. Respecting dignity has a role in protecting the vulnerable. Respecting a client's dignity is an important aspect of the ethical practice of forensic psychiatry.