Civil commitment by conservatorship: the workings of California's law.
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.
Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT.
J L
JL
Young
M J
MJ
Mills
R L
RL
Sack
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000628:therapy; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000628:therapy; D002140:California; D003134:Commitment of Persons with Psychiatric Disorders / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000628:therapy*; D008875:Middle Aged; D019965:Neurocognitive Disorders / Q000628:therapy; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000628:therapy