Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Moving Patients Out of Hospitals—In Whose Interest?

  • Chapter
State Mental Hospitals

Part of the book series: Current Topics in Mental Health ((CTMH))

Abstract

No one would argue that state mental hospitals in the United States have fulfilled any kind of promise of providing a therapeutic atmosphere for the mentally ill. Or is it their purpose to provide a therapeutic atmosphere? Does furnishing a custodial milieu provide sufficient benefits for some patients who would be worse off without the hospital so that their commitment seems justifiable? Until recently no one could be found to say a good word for the state mental hospital system; now that we are beginning to see the results of new policies that restrict the use of state hospitals, many people are beginning to see the state hospital system as preferable to moving disturbed and incompetent people out into the community.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Szasz, T. Law, liberty and psychiatry. New York: Macmillan, 1963; 1a. The manufacture of madness. New York: Harper & Row, 1970.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Dershowitz, A. The psychiatrist’s power in civil commitment: A knife that cuts both ways. Psychology Today, February 1969, p. 43.

    Google Scholar 

  3. Ennis, B., & Litwack, T. Psychiatry and the presumption of expertise: Flipping coins in the courtroom. California Law Review, 1974, 62 (May), pp. 693, 745; fn. 182.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Ennis, B. Civil liberties and mental illness. Criminal Law Bulletin, 1971, 7, 101.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Birnbaum, M. The right to treatment. American Bar Association Journal, 1960, 46, 499;

    Google Scholar 

  6. Birnbaum, M. A new right. American Bar Association Journal, 1960, 46, 516;

    Google Scholar 

  7. Birnbaum, M. Basic rights of the mentally handicapped. Washington, D.C.: Mental Health Law Project, 1973.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Robitscher, J. The right to treatment: A social-legal approach to the plight of the state hospital patient. Villanova Law Review, 1972, 18, 11;

    Google Scholar 

  9. Robitscher, J. Implementing the rights of the mentally disabled: Judicial, legislative and psychiatric action. In F. Ayd (Ed.), Medical, moral and legal issues in mental health care. Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins, 1974.

    Google Scholar 

  10. Birnbaum, M. The right to treatment: Some comments on its development. In F. Ayd (Ed.), Medical, moral and legal issues in mental health care. Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins, 1974. P. 122.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Birnbaum, M. The right to treatment: Some comments on its development. In F. Ayd (Ed.), Medical, moral and legal issues in mental health care. Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins, 1974. P. 98.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Pear, R. Court broadens rights of mental patients. Washington Star, December 29, 1975, p. 1.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Mental Retardation Facilities and Community Mental Health Centers Construction Act of 1963, Public Law 88–164, 88th Congress. Message of President John Kennedy to Congress, February 1963.

    Google Scholar 

  14. National Institute of Mental Health statistics, provision personnel and financial data, inpatient services of state and county medical hospitals, July 1, 1972-June 30, 1973. Mental Health Scope, November 20, 1974, pp. 1, 4.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Birnbaum, M. The right to treatment: Some comments on its development. In F. Ayd (Ed.), Medical, moral and legal issues in mental health care. Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins, 1974. Pp. 129–130.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Birnbaum, M. The right to treatment: Some comments on its development. In F. Ayd (Ed.), Medical, moral and legal issues in mental health care. Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins, 1974. p. 131.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Matter of Josiah Oakes, 8 Law Reporter 123 (Mass. Sup. Ct. 1845). In

    Google Scholar 

  18. S. J. Brakel & R. S. Rock, The mentally disabled and the law (2nd ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1971.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Wexler, D. Mental health law and the movement toward voluntary treatment. California Law Review, 1974, 62, 671, 676.

    Google Scholar 

  20. Survey 1973. Psychiatric Viewpoints, 1974.

    Google Scholar 

  21. Hodge, P. Murder victim’s last years were a confused call for help. Washington Post, March 19, 1973, p. 1.

    Google Scholar 

  22. Chase, J. Where have all the patients gone? Human Behavior, 1973, October, 14.

    Google Scholar 

  23. Treffert, D. Dying with their rights on. Prism, 1974, February, 49–52.

    Google Scholar 

  24. Reich, R., & Siegel, L. The chronically mentally ill shuffle to oblivion. Psychiatric Annals, 1973, 3(11), 35–55.

    Google Scholar 

  25. Eastwood, M. R. Risks of premature discharge. Address to Canadian Psychiatric Association. Psychiatric News, August 1, 1973, p. 20.

    Google Scholar 

  26. Aviram, U., & Segal, S. Exclusion of the mentally ill. Archives of General Psychiatry, 1973, No. 29 (July), 126–131.

    Google Scholar 

  27. California shelves plans for abolishing hospitals. Psychiatric News, December 19, 1973, p. 1.

    Google Scholar 

  28. Chase, J. Where have all the patients gone? Human Behavior, 1973, October, 14–21.

    Google Scholar 

  29. Steadman, H., & Halfon, A. The Baxstrom patients: Background and outcomes. Seminars in Psychiatry, August 1971, 3,(3) 376–385.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Gibson, R. Critical issues for psychoanalysis and psychiatry in national health insurance. Talk to the Atlanta Psychoanalytic Society, January 31, 1975.

    Google Scholar 

  31. Miller, D. Worlds that fail. Trans-Action, 1966, December, 36–41.

    Google Scholar 

  32. Schumach, M. U.S. casts doubt on states’ mental health reviews. New York Times, September 29, 1974, p. 24.

    Google Scholar 

  33. Davis, A. E., Dinitz, S., & Pasamanick, B. The prevention of hospitalization in schizophrenia: Five years after an experimental program. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 1972, 42, 375–388.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  34. Brief hospitalization philosophy carries potent dangers, M.D.’s say. Mental Health Scope, June 14, 1974, p. 1.

    Google Scholar 

  35. Bartlett, L. Present-day requirements for state hospitals joining the community. New England Journal of Medicine, 1967, 276, 90–94.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  36. From peonage to pay. Behavior Today, January 20, 1975, p. 364.

    Google Scholar 

  37. Bartlett, L. The third mental health revolution and the state hospital superintendents. Presented at annual meeting of the Association of Medical Superintendents of Mental Hospitals, Washington, D.C., September 30, 1968.

    Google Scholar 

  38. Wasson, D. F. Mental health chief named after firing. Atlanta Journal and Constitution, October 1, 1972, p. C-2.

    Google Scholar 

  39. Atlanta Journal and Constitution, December 23, 1973, p. B-8.

    Google Scholar 

  40. Shils, J. Treatment, not custody: Federal court order brings big changes in lives of mentally ill and retarded patients in Alabama. Wall Street Journal, December 18, 1973, p. 42.

    Google Scholar 

  41. Unanswered. Psychiatric News 1974, 11(5), 2.

    Google Scholar 

  42. Halleck, S. A troubled view of current trends in forensic psychiatry. Journal of Psychiatry and Law, 1974, Summer, 135–157.

    Google Scholar 

  43. Mental patients are being thrown on community. Clinical Psychiatry News, December 1974, p. 1.

    Google Scholar 

  44. Rootless wanderers. British Medical Journal, 1973 7 (July), 1–2.

    Google Scholar 

  45. Stone, A. (Reviewer). R. Slovenko, Psychiatry and law. American Journal of Psychiatry 1975, 132, 89.

    Google Scholar 

  46. Rollin, H. My clinical hobby-horse: Talking horse sense. World Medicine, 1974, 13 (March), 86.

    Google Scholar 

  47. Alexander, S. The panic to reform. Newsweek, January 20, 1975, p. 84.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Emory University School of Law, Atlanta, Georgia, 30322, USA

    Jonas Robitscher

Authors
  1. Jonas Robitscher
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Southeastern University, Washington, D.C., USA

    Paul I. Ahmed

  2. Plog Research, Inc., Reseda (Los Angeles), California, USA

    Stanley C. Plog

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 1976 Plenum Publishing Corporation

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Robitscher, J. (1976). Moving Patients Out of Hospitals—In Whose Interest?. In: Ahmed, P.I., Plog, S.C. (eds) State Mental Hospitals. Current Topics in Mental Health. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-4265-6_11

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-4265-6_11

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-4267-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4613-4265-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation