PSYCH PATIENTS CAN BE FORCED TO TAKE MEDS: JUDGES

New York Post ^ | 2/18/04 | KENNETH LOVETT

[kattracks]

February 18, 2004 -- ALBANY - In a case that stemmed from a woman being pushed to her death in front of a subway train, the state's highest court yesterday upheld a law that allows families to seek court orders to force mentally ill patients to stick to their treatment. A unanimous Court of Appeals found that "Kendra's Law" enables the mentally ill "to lead more productive and satisfying lives, while at the same time reducing the risk of violence posed by mentally ill patients who refuse to comply with necessary treatment."

[KantianBurke]

Excellent news. Steps like these are needed to take back our cities once and for all. Now how's about the homeless and their "right" to invade our public parks be next?

[The Red Zone]

If someone is that dangerous they ought to be confined.

Don't you find rather Big-Brotherish the part of the court's declaration that stated "Kendra's Law" "enables the mentally ill 'to lead more productive and satisfying lives'"? Since when is that the duty of a government?

Note that many of the drugs used for this purpose lead to permanent brain damage years down the road.

[bullseye1911]

Explains Theresa......

[livius]

I'm all in favor of their being confined. We once had a functioning mental health system with residential treatment. But it was destroyed by liberals who announced that all these people should be free to "express themselves" (i.e., "live productive and satisfying lives" - yeah, right!) any way they wanted and conservatives who didn't want to pay for the system, even though it was ultimately much cheaper to pay for their confinement than for all the costs of the crimes committed by them and the law enforcement, medical and sanitary needs created by their lives in the street.

If we can't get enough agreement to go back to a residential treatment system, then at least we should be able to keep these people medicated so that they are less of a danger to others. The pharmaceutical industry continues to work on developing drugs with fewer side effects, and there have already been vast improvements in the last decade.

Although, personally, I think residential treatment would be better in general, since even with drugs, many of the hardcore mentally ill are incapable of supporting themselves or even living independently.

[wgeorge2001]

"Don't you find rather Big-Brotherish the part of the court's declaration that stated "Kendra's Law" "enables the mentally ill 'to lead more productive and satisfying lives'"? Since when is that the duty of a government?"

I do and more than that; logic and history of the left wing in America shows that judicial terrorists are legislating from the bench. And I believe that this is yet but another step toward mass control of mankind; first it will be the psychotic personality that needs control and after it will be all who have aggressive tendencies and on and on. Ritalin in the school system for "them their aggressive children" should teach parents and other adults what the left wing agenda is in America.
Will Americans ever wake up to creeping communism in America? Or is this the latter days of scripture prophecy being fulfilled?

[mhking]

force mentally ill patients to stick to their treatment

Paging John Kerry...

[sumocide]

It's the other way 'round, mental illnesses cause permanent brain damage if untreated.

[The Red Zone]

The pharmaceutical industry continues to work on developing drugs with fewer side effects, and there have already been vast improvements in the last decade.

Until these become generic, cost considerations will forbid their usage on a social engineering scale.

[longtermmemmory]

Old news forcing criminals with psych problems to take meds has been done for years. Particulary as conditions of parole or probation.

[The Red Zone]

Google on "extrapyramidal"

[FierceDraka]

IMHO, we should never trust any legislation that bears the moniker "(insert name of slain person here)'s Law".

[dawn53]

Actually, in the case of schizophrenia, the damage has already been caused.

Here's a quote from an article stating that brain damage in schizophrenia can begin in childhood.

"Compared to the brain scans of healthy children, scans from children with schizophrenia showed tissue loss in the sensory cortex, parietal cortex, temporal cortex, frontal cortex and supplementary motor cortex. The loss of brain tissue started in the parietal lobe and as the children grew, the damage spread to frontal and temporal areas. The amount of tissue lost in the temporal lobe was associated with the severity of symptoms (e.g., hallucinations, delusions) shown by the children."

http://www.loni.ucla.edu/~thompson/MEDIA/PNAS/nfk.html

[ovrtaxt]

And I believe that this is yet but another step toward mass control of mankind; first it will be the psychotic personality that needs control and after it will be all who have aggressive tendencies and on and on.

Fluoride is good for 'calming aggressive behaviors'.

Drink up!

[The Red Zone]

So what came first, the chicken or the egg? Are the medicines claimed to stop the brain rot or only its symptoms?

[Freebird Forever]

Fluoride is good for 'calming aggressive behaviors'

Fluoridate islam!

[dawn53]

I'm no expert on the subject, but I'm pretty sure the meds just treat the symptoms. They regulate biochemical reactions in the brain.

Problem with schizophrenics is there is not a "constant" state of behavior, it varies. And in their delusional state, or even on a good day, they may think they don't need the meds, so they don't take them, and their symptoms start to spiral downward.

[LadyDoc]

Note that many of the drugs used for this purpose lead to permanent brain damage years down the road.

the newer antipsychotics however have not been associated with tardive dyskinesia.

Schizophrenia itself deteriorates the brain, so flaming psychotics eventually "burn out" and become quiet passive people

But unless you have seen or lived with schizophrenia, then you don't realize how terrible the illness is.

Forced treatment of those who are delusional or hearing voices is better than what we now do: We say they have the "freedom" to be ill, and then when they commit crimes, we place them in jail, where they are victimized by REAL criminals... '

[Condor51]

And hopefully they'll take them BEFORE they vote!

[Born Conservative]

Forcing psych patients to take their meds is not necessarily a bad thing. I worked in a private psych hospital for several years, and we would often get people in who had gone off of their meds, and had a "flare up". Some of the people who were manic would go off of their meds because they liked being manic. Others would not take them because of the side effects (can't say I blame them). But the reason they are on the meds is because they cannot act rationally, and as this article reports, they sometimes do things that lead to serious injury or death.

When we de-institutionalized psych treatment, we instantly created the problem of homelessness. And while I don't think we should go back to the old style psych institutions, long term treatment is sometimes the only option for those refractory to treatment. Also, there really hasn't been a whole lot of new therapies to treat mental illness; the company that comes up with a drug that can effectively treat something like schizophrenia without major side effects is going to make tons of money.