Legal Rights Victory for Mental Patients
Alaska Supreme Court Rules Psych Patients Have Right to Due Process
May 23, 2009
The Supreme Court's decision makes clear that the state must uphold a patient's right to due process when it petitions to force a patient to take psychiatric medication against his or her will.
Decades of Abuse as a Psychiatric Patient
Bigley became entangled with the mental health system around 1980. At that time, his marriage fell apart and he suffered what he described as a nervous breakdown. He quickly became entangled in the system, held like a prisoner, and was forced to take medications against his will.
Since he first sought help for his problems when his marriage ended, Bigley has reportedly been hospitalized and involuntarily drugged at least 70 times.
Jim Gottstein, CEO and President of the Law Project for Psychiatric Rights argued that Bigley's case against the Alaska Psychiatric Institute. The Law Project for Psychiatric Rights' focus is defending people who are facing forced drugging and electroshock.
Prior to this ruling, in Alaska, the state could drug a patient without offering any alternative to this kind of treatment. Now, according to Gottstein, "If the state is holding someone in a psychiatric facility, they must provide a feasible alternative to the forced drugging if the alternative satisfies the state's asserted justification. The State's only other option is to let the person go." The decision covered several other patients' rights issues as well.
State Must Have Reason to Medicate Patients
The state must justify in writing its reasons for seeking to involuntarily drug a patient. According to Gottstein, "this is very important, because, up until now, they just checked a box that said the person was incompetent to decline and the facility wants to drug the person. The state comes in with a witness who testifies untruthfully, and there is no way to have been prepared to rebut it."
The documentation must also include the diagnosis, the medication it intends to use and how it will be administered.
State Must Provide Accurate Information About Medication
The state must present the facts about the medication. Gottstein says, "The problem is judges have been misled for years that these drugs increase safety and are beneficial to patients. The truth is they decrease safety, are ineffective for most, are physically harmful, and prevent many people from recovering."
Lawyers Have a Right to Patient's Records
Prior to a hearing to petition for forced drugging, the lawyer has to be given access to the person's medical and psychiatric records. The lawyer must also be allowed enough time to prepare for the hearing.
Sources:
- Press Release: Alaska Supreme Court Grants Mental Patients Constitutional Rights; psychrights.org; May 22, 2009.
- Superior Court Case No. 3AN 07-1064 P/S; psychrights.org.
- Law Project for Psychiatric Rights.
- National Association for Rights, Protection, and Advocacy.
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