Biomaterial Database

The right to refuse psychiatric treatment. 1999

R M Wettstein

Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pennsylvania, USA.

The right to refuse psychiatric treatment has become an important clinical and legal issue in the last twenty-five years. This article briefly reviews the clinical, administrative, and legal aspects of the right to refuse psychiatric treatment, especially medication. Emphasis is placed on the clinical issues including the reasons for treatment refusals, and the management of treatment refusal. Empirical data are provided to illustrate the rights driven and treatment driven models of involuntary psychotropic medication administration.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D008297	Male		Males
D010414	Pennsylvania	State bounded on the north by New York and Lake Erie, on the east by Delaware and New Jersey, on the south by Delaware and Maryland, and on the west by Ohio and West Virginia.
D011570	Psychiatry	The medical science that deals with the origin, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders.
D003134	Commitment of Mentally Ill	Legal process required for the institutionalization of a patient with severe mental problems.	Outpatient Commitment,Commitment, Outpatient,Mentally Ill Commitments
D004637	Emergency Services, Psychiatric	Organized services to provide immediate psychiatric care to patients with acute psychological disturbances.	Emergency Psychiatric Services,Psychiatric Emergency Services,Services, Emergency Psychiatric,Services, Psychiatric Emergency,Emergency Psychiatric Service,Emergency Service, Psychiatric,Psychiatric Emergency Service,Psychiatric Service, Emergency,Psychiatric Services, Emergency,Service, Emergency Psychiatric,Service, Psychiatric Emergency
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000328	Adult	A person having attained full growth or maturity. Adults are of 19 through 44 years of age. For a person between 19 and 24 years of age, YOUNG ADULT is available.	Adults
D016312	Treatment Refusal	Patient or client refusal of or resistance to medical, psychological, or psychiatric treatment. (APA, Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms, 8th ed.)	Avoidance of Health Care,Avoidance of Healthcare,Avoided Health Care,Avoided Healthcare,Health Care Avoidance,Healthcare Avoidance,Patient Refusal of Treatment,Refusal of Treatment,Anesthesia Refusal,Patient Elopement,Anesthesia Refusals,Elopement, Patient,Refusal, Anesthesia,Refusals, Anesthesia,Treatment Refusals
D016743	Mental Competency	The ability to understand the nature and effect of the act in which the individual is engaged. (From Black's Law Dictionary, 6th ed).	Competency, Mental,Incompetency, Mental,Competence,Incompetence, Mental,Mental Competence,Competence, Mental,Mental Incompetence,Mental Incompetency
D020458	Third-Party Consent	Informed consent given by someone other than the patient or research subject.	Spousal Consent,Community Consent,Third Party Consent,Community Consents,Consent, Community,Consent, Spousal,Consent, Third Party,Consent, Third-Party,Consents, Community