19.3 Ethics and Professional Practice Codes

• Jurisdiction: Arizona

19.3 Ethics and Professional Practice Codes. Each mental health profession has at least one national organization associated with its area of practice. The associations promulgate codes of ethics governing the professional conduct of their members. Unlike the American Bar Association’s Model Rules of Professional Conduct, which have the force of law as adopted by the Arizona Supreme Court, the ethical codes from these mental health associations are not likely to be binding in tort litigation against a mental health professional. Nonetheless, these codes usually constitute a minimum national standard of conduct for the respective professions. Moreover, the trend for ethics codes in the past twenty-years has moved away from aspirational statements and replacing them with a statutory structure. There is also greater...