Legal Cases

Question 1

Wyatt V. Stickney

Answer 1

1972 - fed court established minimum standard of care provided by hospitals

Wyatt mentally retarted man sued Stickney (commissioner of mental health in Alabama) over conditions in facility

Fed Court ruled hospital failed to provide adequate living conditions, and treatment

Established patients rights: right not to be required to perform work in maintaining facility, hospitals must at a minimum provide:

1. a humane psychological and physical environment
2. Qualified staff in numbers sufficient to administer adequate treatment
3. Individualized treatment plans

Question 2

O’Conner V Donaldson

Answer 2

1975 - Donaldson involuntarily confined for 14 years without receiving treatment - no diagnosis and posed no threat to himself or others

Court Ruled: “mental illness (alone) cannot justify a states’ locking a person up against their will and keeping them indefinitely” person must pose a danger to themselves or others

Question 3

Youngberg V Romero

Answer 3

1982 - 33 year old with severe retardation, highly mistreated often held in restraints- mother brought case on alleging hospital negligent in his care

Court ruled: involuntary committed patients have right to be confined in less-restrictive conditions whenever it is reasonable to do so

Question 4

Rogers V Okin

Answer 4

Feds ruled: a patient may be unwise to refuse medication, but a patient with or without a mental disorder has the right to exercise bad judgment so long as the effects of the “error” do not impose “a danger of physical harm to him/herself, fellow patients, or hospital staff

Question 5

Tarasoff V Regents of University of California

Answer 5

Duty to warn: Therapist’s obligation when their clients show the potential for violence making threats against others

Question 6

Durham V United States

Answer 6

The accused person in not criminally responsible if his/her unlawful act the product of mental disorder/mental defect

Juries expected to decide not only whether accused suffered from a mental disease/defect but also whether mental condition causally connected to criminal act

Question 7

Jones V United States

Answer 7

individuals acquitted by reason of insanity “constitute a special class that should be treated differently” from civilly committed individuals

people found not guilty by reason of insanity may remain confined to a mental hospital may remain confined to a mental hospital longer than if they were found guilt and sentenced to prison