The rights of state hospital patients: from state hospitals to their alternatives

Jeffrey L. Geller, University of Massachusetts Medical School
William H. Fisher, University of Massachusetts Medical School
Melissa McDermeit, Lighthouse Institute of Chestnut Health Systems
Carla L. White, University of Massachusetts Medical School

Abstract

During the 1980s and 1990s the locus of psychiatric treatment in many states shifted from state hospitals to the psychiatric units of general hospitals. The extent to which the rights guaranteed to psychiatric inpatients by state mental health agencies will survive this "privatization" process is unclear. The authors explore this issue by providing a "status report" of patient rights, identified through a national survey. They discuss the problems of preserving these rights as an ever greater proportion of care is provided in general hospitals under the mechanism of managed care.