Law & Bioethics contains spporting documents for almost all topices. A menu for each provides links to the documents. Below is the menu (without working links) for Mental Illness.

Home

Supporting Documents, Mental Illness

Criteria For Involuntary Commitment

Hawaii Code (§ 334-60.2). This Hawaii statute lists the criteria for involuntary commitment. Similar standards are used in many other states:

"A person may be committed to a psychiatric facility for involuntary hospitalization, if the court finds:
   "(1) That the person is mentally ill or suffering from substance abuse;
   "(2) That the person is imminently dangerous to self or others, is gravely disabled or is obviously ill; and
   "(3) That the person is in need of care or treatment, or both, and there is no suitable alternative available through existing facilities and programs which would be less restrictive than hospitalization."

Mentally Ill Patients Bill of Rights

California: Cal Wel & Inst Code § 5325 (2004). The State of California provides a long list of rights of mental patients. Other states have similar codes.

Procedure for Forced Medication

Conn. Gen. Stat. § 17a-543 (2003). In Connecticut, a court order is not required to administer treatment to an incompetent mental patient. Instead the code provides a procedure that must be followed.

Consent to Mental Health Treatment

ORC Ann. 5122.271 (2004). In Ohio, as in several other states, a court order is required to administer treatment to mentally ill incompetent patients. This code indicates the complexity of the regulations that governs mental illness treatment in some states.

Federal Regulations: Mental Illness Rights

42 CFR 482.13 (2005). For Medicare and Medicaid institutions, federal regulations require certain rights for mental health patients. For example: "The patient or his or her representative (as allowed under State law) has the right to make informed decisions regarding his or her care. The patient's rights include being informed of his or her health status, being involved in care planning, and being able to request or refuse treatment. This right must not be construed as a mechanism to demand the provision of treatment or services deemed medically unnecessary or inappropriate." Familiarity with these regulation is essential for those health care professionals working with mental illness.

42 USCS § 1983 (2004). This very brief federal code provides the basis for federal due process claims for mentally ill patients. It is often simply referred to as § 1983. It declares liability for those who deny constitutionally guaranteed rights by way of reference to state law.

Use of Restraints

Colorado: C.R.S. 26-20-104 (2004). This Colorado statute provides a good example of a state code presenting requirements for the use of restraints. See also federal regulation 42 CFR 482.13 (above).

S.C. Code Ann. § 44-22-150 (2003). South Carolina provides an additional example of a state statute dealing with patient restraints.

Other state codes containing regulations about mental health can be found in our state statute background resource.

Home