title: Outcomes of compulsorily admitted schizophrenia patients who agreed or disagreed to prolong their hospitalization.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Compulsory admission is practiced around the world with legislative variations. The legal status during compulsory hospitalization might be changed to consent or the patient might be discharged against medical advice (AMA), if he no longer poses a risk.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  In the present study, we investigated the outcome of compulsory admitted patients who left the hospital after commitment period despite request by the treating psychiatrist to remain in the hospital (AMA) vs those who agreed to prolong their hospitalization.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 320 patients with schizophrenia admitted involuntarily, 157 (49%) were discharged without converting to consent, and 163 (51%) agreed to stay in the hospital. There was no difference in baseline clinical and demographic characteristics and outcome measures (rate of readmission, legal status of next admission, and length of stay in the next admission) between the 2 groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Prolongation of length of stay in compulsorily psychiatrist-ordered schizophrenia patients did not affect their rate of rehospitalizations or the length of next admission compared with those who left the hospital immediately after the change in their legal status AMA.
authors.affiliation: Geha Mental Health Center, Petach-Tikva, Israel. Krivoy@zahav.net.il
authors.forename: Amir
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Krivoy
authors.forename: Tsvi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fischel
authors.forename: Hazar
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zahalka
authors.forename: Gal
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Shoval
authors.forename: Abraham
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Weizman
authors.forename: Avi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Valevski
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010351:Patient Discharge; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000628:therapy*; D016896:Treatment Outcome