Recent mental health litigation: a critical perspective. 1977

A A Stone

The author considers the effect of recent mental health litigation involving involuntary confinement, the right to refuse treatment, the least restrictive alternative, and the right to treatment on the role of the psychiatrist and the provision of mental health care. His thesis is that the implicit analogies between psychiatrists and agents of the criminal justice system and between patients and criminal defendants are misleading and that the recent changes in the law based on these analogies adversely affect the provision of mental health care.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D007878 Legislation as Topic Works about the enactment of laws and ordinances and their regulation by official organs of a nation, state, or other legislative organization. It refers also to health-related laws and regulations in general or for which there is no specific descriptor. Health Legislation,Constitutional Amendments,Health Legislation as Topic,Laws and Statutes,Legislation, Health,Model Legislation,Population Law,Statutes and Laws,Amendment, Constitutional,Amendments, Constitutional,Constitutional Amendment,Law, Population,Laws, Population,Legislation, Model,Population Laws
D010344 Patient Advocacy Promotion and protection of the rights of patients, frequently through a legal process. Patient Ombudsmen,Patient Representatives,Clinical Ombudsman,Patient Ombudsman,Advocacy, Patient,Ombudsman, Clinical,Ombudsman, Patient,Ombudsmen, Patient,Patient Representative,Representative, Patient,Representatives, Patient
D002961 Civil Rights Legal guarantee protecting the individual from attack on personal liberties, right to fair trial, right to vote, and freedom from discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, disability, or national origin. (from http://www.usccr.gov/ accessed 1/31/2003) Due Process,Minority Rights,Equal Protection,Legal Rights,Voting Rights,Civil Right,Legal Right,Minority Right,Protection, Equal,Right, Civil,Right, Legal,Right, Minority,Right, Voting,Rights, Civil,Rights, Legal,Rights, Minority,Rights, Voting,Voting Right
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
D003156 Community Mental Health Services Diagnostic, therapeutic and preventive mental health services provided for individuals in the community. Community Mental Health Service,Mental Health Services, Community,Assertive Community Treatment,Health Services, Community Mental,Services, Community Mental Health,Services, Mental Health Community,Community Treatment, Assertive,Treatment, Assertive Community
D003695 Delivery of Health Care The concept concerned with all aspects of providing and distributing health services to a patient population. Delivery of Dental Care,Health Care,Health Care Delivery,Health Care Systems,Community-Based Distribution,Contraceptive Distribution,Delivery of Healthcare,Dental Care Delivery,Distribution, Non-Clinical,Distribution, Nonclinical,Distributional Activities,Healthcare,Healthcare Delivery,Healthcare Systems,Non-Clinical Distribution,Nonclinical Distribution,Activities, Distributional,Activity, Distributional,Care, Health,Community Based Distribution,Community-Based Distributions,Contraceptive Distributions,Deliveries, Healthcare,Delivery, Dental Care,Delivery, Health Care,Delivery, Healthcare,Distribution, Community-Based,Distribution, Contraceptive,Distribution, Non Clinical,Distributional Activity,Distributions, Community-Based,Distributions, Contraceptive,Distributions, Non-Clinical,Distributions, Nonclinical,Health Care System,Healthcare Deliveries,Healthcare System,Non Clinical Distribution,Non-Clinical Distributions,Nonclinical Distributions,System, Health Care,System, Healthcare,Systems, Health Care,Systems, Healthcare
D005555 Forensic Psychiatry Psychiatry in its legal aspects. This includes criminology, penology, commitment of mentally ill, the psychiatrist's role in compensation cases, the problems of releasing information to the court, and of expert testimony. Jurisprudence, Psychiatric,Psychiatric Jurisprudence,Psychiatry, Forensic
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
D012919 Social Behavior Any behavior caused by or affecting another individual or group usually of the same species. Sociality,Behavior, Social,Behaviors, Social,Social Behaviors

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