UNESCOWe are pleased to announce the publication of Psychiatric Ethics and the Rights of Persons with Mental Disabilities in the Community. This latest volume is one in a series of UNESCO books on ethics themes providing an international and interdisciplinary perspective on all aspects of law and medical ethics. The volume provides updated case analyses of classic mental health, ethics and the law issues such as involuntary civil commitment, institutional rights (including sexual interaction, the refusal of treatment and deinstitutionalization), tort law, the criminal process, and all aspects of informed consent law. In addition the current volume prepares the reader for landmark mental health ethics and the law cases to come. It includes a special section providing clinical and ethical analyses of rapidly emerging conflict of interest issues in mental health.

The book was published under the overall editorship of Prof. Amnon Carmi, UNESCO Ethics Chair and Director of The International Center For Health Law and Ethics at the University of Haifa. This book is authored by Professors Michael Perlin (New York Law School), Harold Bursztajn (Massachusetts Mental Health Center and the Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital Department of Psychiatry of Harvard Medical School), Kris Gledhill (University of Auckland), and Eva Szeli (New York Law School & Arizona State University). Contributing editors include Lisa Cosgrove (University of Massachusetts), Omar Sultan Haque (Harvard Medical School), Robin Paul (Case Western Reserve School of Medicine), and Beata Anna Zolovska (Columbia Medical School). It may be ordered via acarmi@research.haifa.ac.il.

To insure worldwide access for financially challenged individuals and institutions, The International Center For Health Law and Ethics at the University of Haifa has generously made the book available as a free download on its web page. The book is also available directly from the UNESCO website. Those wishing to contribute to support The International Center for Health Law and Ethics at the University of Haifa in making this book financially accessible may contact the above mentioned addresses.