Fwd:Boston Globe article: "Psychiatric patients are offered new
Morgan Brown (morganbrown@hotmail.com)
Thu, 15 Jan 1998 17:34:31 PST
Hello,
Below is a forwarded article which may be of interest to you or others
you may know.
Morgan <morganbrown@hotmail.com>
Morgan W. Brown
Montpelier Vermont USA
Norsehorse's Home Turf: http://members.tripod.com/~Norsehorse/
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Boston Globe URL:
http://www.boston.com/globe
Relevant Section URL:
http://www.boston.com/globe/metro
Article URL:
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http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe/globehtml/015/
Psychiatric_patients_are_offered_ne.htm
----------Forwarded Article------------
Psychiatric patients are offered new rules
By Mitchell Zuckoff, Globe Staff, 01/15/98
A legislative panel yesterday offered a blueprint to revise
Massachusetts'commitment law, calling for a sharp reduction in the
length of time psychiatric patients could be held against their will
without appearing before a judge.
The recommendations also call for emergency court hearings in cases
considered ''egregious'' abuses of the commitment process, and improved
access to lawyers for psychiatric patients held involuntarily.
Current law allows hospitals to hold patients deemed a danger to
themselves or others for up to 24 days without court review, the longest
such period in the nation. By contrast, accused criminals can be held
just 24 hours without a court appearance.
In the report issued yesterday, a legislative subcommittee formed in the
wake of a Globe Spotlight Team report recommended that the period be cut
in half, to 12 days or fewer.
''These people deserve to have their civil liberties protected, but we
also need to ensure that their health and safety is a priority,'' said
Representative Michael P. Cahill (D-Beverly), co-chairman of the Joint
Committee on Human Services and Elderly Affairs.
The panel also recommended that patients who believe they are victims of
''an egregious misuse of the involuntary commitment procedures'' be
entitled to an emergency District Court hearing within one day of
seeking judicial intervention.
A third major recommendation was a call for patients held involuntarily
to have better access to lawyers. Under the proposal, hospitals would
provide patients the name and telephone number of the Committee for
Public Counsel Services, as well as access to a telephone.
Except for this last recommendation, the panel's report echoed a
majority report issued in October by a special committee of judges,
clinicians, state mental health officials, and lawyers for psychiatric
patients.
The special committee recommended that hospitals be required to
automatically inform the Committee for Public Counsel Services of all
involuntary commitments.
District Judge Maurice H. Richardson, who chaired the special committee,
said yesterday he was ''delighted'' by the report, though he still would
prefer that lawyers be notified automatically by hospitals.
Members of Richardson's committee who sought the shortest length of time
without judicial review were less sanguine. Stan Goldman, director of
mental health litigation at the Committee for Public Counsel Services,
said he would push the Legislature to require court hearings within
roughly six days of commitment.
Goldman also criticized the legislative panel's decision to shift
responsibility for notifying his organization from hospitals to
patients.
The proposals are expected to be offered in the form of legislation in
the next few weeks.
This story ran on page B04 of the Boston Globe on 01/15/98.
© Copyright 1998 Globe Newspaper Company.
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