Biomaterial Database

Legal intervention in civil commitment: the impact of broadened commitment criteria. 1986

M L Durham, and G L Pierce

Recent legal changes in Washington State have broadened the grave-disability criterion for civil commitment of the mentally ill. Analysis of data from state mental hospitals and from records of commitment authorities in Washington's two largest counties revealed that, while there was an increase in the number of involuntary hospitalizations immediately before and after the changes in law, there was a virtual disappearance of voluntary patients in state hospitals. Moreover, expansion of the definition of "grave disability" resulted in a move toward a parens patriae-dominated civil commitment system. Analysis of the empirical consequences of the legal changes on commitment decisions is presented, along with the response of mental health officials and the public.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
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
D004185	Disability Evaluation	Determination of the degree of a physical, mental, or emotional handicap. The diagnosis is applied to legal qualification for benefits and income under disability insurance and to eligibility for Social Security and workmen's compensation benefits.	Disability Evaluations,Evaluation, Disability,Evaluations, Disability
D006783	Hospitals, State	Hospitals controlled by agencies and departments of the state government.	State Hospitals,Hospital, State,State Hospital
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D001523	Mental Disorders	Psychiatric illness or diseases manifested by breakdowns in the adaptational process expressed primarily as abnormalities of thought, feeling, and behavior producing either distress or impairment of function.	Mental Illness,Psychiatric Diseases,Psychiatric Disorders,Psychiatric Illness,Behavior Disorders,Diagnosis, Psychiatric,Mental Disorders, Severe,Psychiatric Diagnosis,Illness, Mental,Mental Disorder,Mental Disorder, Severe,Mental Illnesses,Psychiatric Disease,Psychiatric Disorder,Psychiatric Illnesses,Severe Mental Disorder,Severe Mental Disorders
D014861	Washington	State bounded by on the north by Canada, on the east by Idaho, on the south by Oregon, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean.
D028642	Mentally Ill Persons	Persons with psychiatric illnesses or diseases, particularly psychotic and severe mood disorders.	Mental Patients,Mentally Ill,Ill, Mentally,Mentally Ill Person,Person, Mentally Ill,Persons, Mentally Ill