Ethics in forensic psychology is necessary to maintain professionalism and avoid creating unsuitable mental conditions. Forensic psychology is applied continuously as evidence in many decision-making activities that require assessing the psychological status of any given individual (Chezum, 2016). Ethics in forensic psychology is also essential as it promotes trust in the practice of forensic psychology, as each psychologist works to deliver accurate and detailed data, which follows the rules of the Ethical Standards (Chezum, 2016). The case shows that Dr. Gallager's flawed ethical thinking caused a lot of emotional trauma for the family. Due to the conclusions that she arrived at and provided as evidence to the court, "The court dismissed the protection from abuse order which had been granted against the husband and then removed custody from Child B" ( Maine Board , 2010).
Spotting the ethical problems in the evaluation is not a simple task. The evaluation report is too wordy; thus, it would not be easy to pick out most of the relevant details relating to the case. I was only able to catch a few ethical problems from reading through the evaluation report. That includes the breach of ethics in transparency, integrity, and due diligence. I recognized that Dr. Gallager failed to be completely transparent with both the parents and the child that she was assessing.
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Moreover, she was not clear with her parents' intentions since the report shows that she failed to mention to her mother that the final assessment could mean that her child might be taken away from her mostly if the decision is made that she is incapable of adequately maintaining the child. Finally, Dr. Gallager ignored a lot of critical information about all parties, which was readily available to her, which would have played a significant role in determining the overall outcome. To make it an ethical evaluation, the psychologist should have put in the effort to conduct reasonable due diligence before and during her assessment of the individuals in question ( Maine Board, 2010). She should also have prioritized transparency in defining the value of every information given and obtained.
References
Chezum, L. (2016). Ethical challenges for psychology in the justice system . https://www.apadivisions.org. https://www.apadivisions.org/division-41/publications/newsletters/news/2016/02/legal .
MAINE BOARD OF EXAMINERS OF PSYCHOLOGISTS. (2010). IN RE: Mary Gallager, Ph. D. ( DECISION (Complaint # 2007-PSY-3497) ( Re: DisciplinaryAction [Ebook]. https://learn.snhu.edu/d2l/lor/viewer/viewFile.d2lfile/32255/15435,-1/.
