Law Commons^™

Regulation Of Electroconvulsive Therapy, Carol Sanger

Faculty Scholarship

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a psychiatric procedure that induces a convulsive seizure in the patient in order to treat severe depression. Recently, courts, legislatures, and the medical profession have paid increasing attention to the regulation of ECT. Their interest has been stimulated by the growing recognition of the rights of mental patients, the developing role of consent in medical transactions, and the results of recent scientific research on the efficacy and consequences of ECT.

Regulation of ECT has generally focused on whether the patient or his representative effectively consented to the treatment. The highly intrusive nature of ECT and the …