Inequity and Madness: Psychosocial and Human Rights Issues

For a teacher of health care ethics to a range of audiences this book forms a useful, and at times, entertaining introduction to some of the backgrounds of some modern day ethical dilemmas. The author clearly feels passionate about westernized inequities. The structure of the book allows both browsers and serious students to identify the issues that may concern them. Unfortunately, these sections, while relatively well referenced, are invariably too short. Consequently, further reading research is required. Notably weak are the short sections on research, general ethical discussion and the evidence‐based care. As someone who sits on a research ethics committee and who is troubled by the ethics of researching people with severe mental illness, I was disappointed that the author merely listed such concerns and some official publications. No offer was made to help clarify how and why such people are unfairly treated by potential researchers.

The sectional brevity is not really surprising as the text is not designed as a discussion of practical ethics apart from the clear anxiety that “mad people” are treated unfairly. The more practical sections on medication compliance and involuntary hospital isolation only offer a selected literature to illustrate some of the author's concerns. An analysis of social care policies are non‐systematic in respect of both wider political unions, for example, the European Union and individual countries. This is particularly worrying for the reader because little is mentioned of the European Convention on Human Rights and how this has been incorporated into both legislation and policy development.

Would I buy this book? The answer is probably not. Would I have looked at it in the library? The answer is probably maybe.