Abstract
This article describes the case of a hospitalized psychiatric patient who colluded with hospital police in a “sting” operation designed to catch a hospital employee selling drugs. The patient had failed a drug test and was told that he could avoid criminal charges by cooperating in the “sting.” We argue that the patient was asked to enter into a contract with the hospital police when he was pressed to collude with them in the “sting” operation and that his competence to enter into that contract should have been formally assessed. Although there are no explicit legal criteria that must be met for a person to be competent to collude with police, recognized criteria exist for determining a person's competence to enter into a contract. Our position is that hospitalized patients should only be permitted to collude with police when they are competent to enter into a contract and can enter into the contract voluntarily. Research pertaining to psychiatric patients' abilities to meet these criteria is reviewed, and implications for mental health practitioners with patients who may be asked to collude with police are discussed.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.