The commitment process for psychiatric patients. Changing status in the Western States.
Recent changes in commitment legislation for the mentally ill have had an important impact on the role of physicians in treating these patients. New commitment laws emphasize civil rights at the expense of right-to-treatment concepts, sometimes causing neglect of severely psychotic persons. Only four western states have a high rating of conformity with a model commitment statute.
D002140:California; D003134:Commitment of Persons with Psychiatric Disorders; D005555:Forensic Psychiatry; D007883:Legislation, Medical; D028642:Persons with Psychiatric Disorders; D009922:Oregon; D012922:Social Change; D014861:Washington