Abstract
In a state in which patient refusal of antipsychotic medication in all nonemergency situations must be respected, lawyers and psychiatrists in western Massachusetts have employed probate court decisions as involuntary outpatient treatment orders. The legal, administrative, and clinical issues in sustaining court-ordered outpatient treatment are discussed by focusing on case examples demonstrating some successes, some challenges, and some failures. Judicially sanctioned involuntary outpatient treatment presents an alternative model to statutorily based outpatient commitment.
Footnotes
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Marilyn J. Schmidt J.D. is the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health Region I Legal Counsel. Jeffrey L. Geller, M.D., M.P.H., is associate professor of psychiatry, University of Massachusetts Medical School and Director of Public Sector Psychiatry, University of Massachusetts Medical Center. Address reprint requests to: Dr. Jeffrey Geller, University of Massachusetts Medical Center, Department of Psychiatry, 55 Lake Ave. North, Worcester, MA 01655.
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The contribution of the staff of the Region I Legal Office of the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health for their work on these cases and their input into this article is gratefully acknowledged.
- Copyright © 1989, The American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law
