Working with cognitively impaired drivers: Legal issues for mental health professionals to consider

Introduction

Mental health professionals are gatekeepers of patient confidentiality. Yet, confidentiality held too strictly, by allowing a potentially dangerous driver to assume control of a car, endangers society. Recent court cases have mandated that mental health professionals must warn those who may be potentially harmed by patients. In spite of this, disagreements linger as to whether it is the responsibility of governmental agencies or mental health professionals to decide who is unfit to operate a vehicle because of cognitive impairment. Methods: This article addresses the legally relevant considerations when working with cognitively compromised individuals who operate a motor vehicle. Legal issues surrounding confidentiality, patient rights, foreseeable risk, and the duty to warn and protect are presented in order to understand their relationship to recent court rulings.

Impact on industry

The impact on the mental health care industry includes not only concerns about increased insurance premiums or costs due to alleged negligence or litigation expenses secondary to failure to ensure the safety of an impaired client under their care. Mental health care providers are aware that the welfare of clients with impairment to cognitive decision making ability may require unique considerations for safety such as ensuring safe and appropriate transportation.     

The effect of financial globalization and natural resource rent on load capacity factor in India: an analysis using the dual adjustment approach

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Currently, the most crucial economic and ecological issues are related to environmental degradation and sustainability. On this backdrop, this paper...     

Predicting landscape-scale biodiversity recovery by natural tropical forest regrowth

Natural forest regrowth is a cost-effective, nature-based solution for biodiversity recovery, yet different socioenvironmental factors can lead to variable outcomes. A critical knowledge gap in forest restoration planning is how to predict where natural forest regrowth is likely to lead to high levels of biodiversity recovery, which is an indicator of conservation value and the potential provisioning of diverse ecosystem services. We sought to predict and map landscape-scale recovery of species richness and total abundance of vertebrates, invertebrates, and plants in tropical and subtropical second-growth forests to inform spatial restoration planning. First, we conducted a global meta-analysis to quantify the extent to which recovery of species richness and total abundance in second-growth forests deviated from biodiversity values in reference old-growth forests in the same landscape. Second, we employed a machine-learning algorithm and a comprehensive set of socioenvironmental factors to spatially predict landscape-scale deviation and map it. Models explained on average 34% of observed variance in recovery (range 9–51%). Landscape-scale biodiversity recovery in second-growth forests was spatially predicted based on socioenvironmental landscape factors (human demography, land use and cover, anthropogenic and natural disturbance, ecosystem productivity, and topography and soil chemistry); was significantly higher for species richness than for total abundance for vertebrates (median range-adjusted predicted deviation 0.09 vs. 0.34) and invertebrates (0.2 vs. 0.35) but not for plants (which showed a similar recovery for both metrics [0.24 vs. 0.25]); and was positively correlated for total abundance of plant and vertebrate species (Pearson r = 0.45, p = 0.001). Our approach can help identify tropical and subtropical forest landscapes with high potential for biodiversity recovery through natural forest regrowth.     

Global rarity of intact coastal regions

Management of the land–sea interface is essential for global conservation and sustainability objectives because coastal regions maintain natural processes that support biodiversity and the livelihood of billions of people. However, assessments of coastal regions have focused strictly on either the terrestrial or marine realm. Consequently, understanding of the overall state of Earth's coastal regions is poor. We integrated the terrestrial human footprint and marine cumulative human impact maps in a global assessment of the anthropogenic pressures affecting coastal regions. Of coastal regions globally, 15.5% had low anthropogenic pressure, mostly in Canada, Russia, and Greenland. Conversely, 47.9% of coastal regions were heavily affected by humanity, and in most countries (84.1%) >50% of their coastal regions were degraded. Nearly half (43.3%) of protected areas across coastal regions were exposed to high human pressures. To meet global sustainability objectives, all nations must undertake greater actions to preserve and restore the coastal regions within their borders.