Regardless of whether the legislation proposed by these two bills makes sense as something for lawmakers to address, and regardless of how practical they are in terms of both their intended and unintended consequences, the message of such legislation is clear: They represent distress at insensitive care and an attempt to legislate kindness. The message comes through that clinicians can’t be trusted to do what’s right, and laws must be passed to make sure they practice in a thoughtful and considerate manner. It would be nice to have some reasonable conclusion about how to rectify these situations without having legislators tell medical professionals how to practice. I don’t have an answer here, but I believe that passing more laws will create its own negative fallout, and we need to find a better route to kindness.
Dr. Miller is a coauthor of "Shrink Rap: Three Psychiatrists Explain Their Work" (Baltimore: the Johns Hopkins University Press, 2011).