title: Michigan's system for protecting patients' rights.
abstract: Michigan's approach to protecting patients' rights is based on the statutory guarantee of those rights, through the 1975 mental health code, and on a set of specific administrative procedures. An office of recipient rights was established in the Department of Mental Health, and rights advisers appointed in all 23 state institutions. When a complaint is filed, the institution is allowed to act first, to investigate the complaint and provide a remedy if it is substantiated. The state office monitors the institution's actions and intervenes when necessary or when a complainant appeals the outcome. During the first 17 months, 2258 complaints were filed. Of the 1866 resolved in that period, 572, or 31%, were substantiated and resulted in remedial action.
mesh_terms: D002961:Civil Rights; D005555:Forensic Psychiatry; D006806:Human Rights; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000628:therapy*; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000592:standards; D008824:Michigan; D010344:Patient Advocacy; D011635:Public Health Administration