Do mental patients want legal counsel? A survey.
Fifty patients on the admission ward of a state hospital were asked questions about whether they felt a need for legal aid. Nearly all responded in a meaningful manner, and half indicated a need for legal aid. Most likely to express a need for counsel were older patients, those involuntarily confined, those who had been previously hospitalized, and those classified as paranoid schizophrenic.
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001290:Attitude; D002961:Civil Rights; D005260:Female; D005555:Forensic Psychiatry; D006760:Hospitalization; D006778:Hospitals, Psychiatric; D006801:Humans; D007603:Jurisprudence; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000145:classification; D008824:Michigan; D010359:Patient Readmission; D012563:Schizophrenia, Paranoid / Q000145:classification