Urgent Alert
Morgan Brown (morganbrown@hotmail.com)
Wed, 04 Feb 1998 05:05:26 PST
******* Urgent Alert *******
Re: S. 103-the Forced Drugging Bill;Vermont Legislature
The time is NOW for members of the House Judiciary Committee to hear
from you!
Tuesday, February 3, 1998
Hello Peers, friends & allies,
Over the last two weeks, the House Judiciary Committee has taken a
wealth of testimony, including holding a public hearing last Wednesday
(1/28/98), and have asked tough questions of several people who have
testified before them regarding this bill which would give the State the
power, it has not had before, to forcibly drug people on a
“non-emergency” basis outside of the Vermont State Hospital (V.S.H.).
S. 103, as currently being proposed and discussed, would further erode
the few rights and limited due process that people who are
psychiatrically labeled or disabled now have access to.
While Durable Power Of Attorney documents (D.P.O.A.’s) are being talked
about in the context of being included in some fashion in this
bill, so far, all the language I’ve seen in an unofficial Department of
Developmental and Mental Health Services (D.D.M.H.S.) draft (dated
1/27/98) along with the discussion and testimony which I’ve heard makes
it clear that it would erode the rights we now enjoy under the D.P.O.A.
statutes. Current Vermont statutes do NOT make a separate distinction
between D.P.O.A.’s for mental health care and other health care
concerns. The proposals being put forth by various parties, at the
present time, would negate a right we now hold and should retain.
D.P.O.A.’s should be controlling, it should NOT matter what our
specific medical diagnosis has been determined to be.
S. 103, as currently being considered by the committee (the “Proposed
Compromise by DDMHS - 1/15/98,” which is a different version than the
unofficial one mentioned above regarding D.P.O.A.’s), would:
* Allow for forced drugging in the community;
* End the limited due process civil proceeding the State must currently
follow in order to force drug a person on a non-emergency basis;
* and, Would replace the “substituted judgment” standard with a “best
interests” standard. Substituted Judgment is a decision based on what is
believed a person would have decided about accepting psychiatric drugs
or not when they were competent to make that decision themselves. Under
the current standard, if a person would not want to be drugged while
competent then the State is prohibited to do so in non-emergency
situations. The Best Interests standard would replace that with the
State determining what is in your best interests regardless of what you
may have desired while competent.
The bill would place this new expedited, due process-less, proceeding
in the over-burdened courts which usually defer to the opinions of the
mental health professionals. There would also not be the same level of
legal representation afforded as is the case now, certainly no
provisions are being made for it.
S. 103 would deny us the protections and rights under the law in Vermont
that we now have and that the Vermont courts have upheld when the
Department of Mental Health sought to relieve themselves of the “J.L.”
Decree, as it is known as, which they signed after a class action law
suit was brought against them.
The State of Vermont does not need this legislation.
It is a bad bill, it cannot be improved.
Please call one or more members of the House Judiciary Committee members
at the State House as soon as possible and/or e-mail the committee
today.
If you call the State House, please leave a message containing the
following: the name of the legislator you want to reach; your name; a
phone number you can be reached at; and what you are calling about (S.
103 - the forced drugging bill).
The phone numbers are: toll free at 1-800-322-5616 or at
(802) 828-2228
If you e-mail, direct it to :
Representative Thomas Costello
and committee members
House Judiciary Committee
Vermont State House
Montpelier Vt
c/o: sgtarms@leg.state.vt.us
The names of the committee members are:
Thomas Costello, Chair, Brattleboro
Thomas Little, Vice Chair, Shelburne
William Lippert Jr., Hinesburg
Wayne Kenyon, Bradford Center
John Edwards, Swanton
Judith Livingston, Manchester
Bill Mackinnon, Sharon
Cathy Voyer, Morrisville
Diane Carmolli, Rutland
Howard Sinnott, Bennington
Edward Soboleski, Bellow Falls
Thank you for your concern.
Sincerely,
Morgan W. Brown
c/o P O Box 264
Montpelier VT 05601
E-mail: morganbrown@hotmail.com
Home Page: http://members.tripod.com/~Norsehorse/
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