PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - John L. Young
AU  - Mark J. Mills
AU  - Robert L. Sack
TI  - Civil Commitment by Conservatorship: The Workings of California's Law
DP  - 1987 Jun 01
TA  - Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online
PG  - 127--139
VI  - 15
IP  - 2
4099  - http://jaapl.org/content/15/2/127.short
4100  - http://jaapl.org/content/15/2/127.full
SO  - J Am Acad Psychiatry Law1987 Jun 01; 15
AB  - This article summarizes the conservatorship provisions of the California Civil Commitment Statute, the Lanterman-Petris-Short (LPS) Act and reviews the major findings from previous studies. By studying the hospital records of eighty-five gravely disabled patients affected by LPS, the authors address issues raised by these reports. The results indicate that the law's provisions work unevenly. Patients with acute and current disability received conservatorships more frequently than those who had been disabled in the past. There is some evidence that the process is used to confine threatening patients and does not function equally well for all diagnostic groups.