Furious Seasons

October 11, 2006

A Blow Against Forced Medication

I'm not sure whether to call this a blow for patient rights and the anti-psychiatry movement, a defeat for the forces of forced medication, or what, but the Alaska State Supreme Court ruled in June (no idea why I just found out about it now) that patients in that state's state hospital—ie, long-term inpatient commitment—cannot be forced to take psych meds, especially the very hardcore ones, without "first proving it's in the patients best interests" and without establishing that less-restrictive alternatives aren't available or won't work.

I happened to interview the winning attorney, Jim Gottstein, a couple of years ago and we talked at length about this case, Myers v. Alaska Psychiatric Institute. I well understood his point that forced drugging—making non-compliant patients take meds through force or coercion—violated civil liberties principles. But I have my doubs as to how far-reaching this decision will be, although the counterpunch.org author seems to think, as does Gottstein, that this ruling will have huge implications for Big Pharma and that they won't like having their revenue stream screwed with. I only wish it were so.

The med at the center of the case was Zyprexa.

But Alaska is a small state, the ruling only applies there (it can be introduced in other jurisdictions but it's not binding) and I'd be shocked if psych med sales to state hospitals around the country (we're talking about 50,000 patients there worth, at the most, $500 million in annual sales in a $40 billion a year industry) were much impacted. What's significant is that this is the first ruling of its kind in, like, forever as the tide of legal precedents has turned very much towards forced outpatient commitment in recent years. I'm not sure that it will have quite the imp[act of the Olmstead decision by the US Supreme Court in 1999, but it is always nice to see individual rights and liberties being recognized especially in how they apply to the most vulnerable of our citizens. (I wish I had time to read the actual ruling. Sigh.)

How this will be implemented in the real world is beyond me. Stay tuned.

Posted by Philip Dawdy at October 11, 2006 12:03 AM

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Comments

I find this very interesting.

I know someone who lives in Alaska, and over the years she has flown to Seattle for meds as well as pdocs for herself and 2 sons. She always talked about how hard it was and rare, to find good psychiatric care in that State.

Also, this causes me to wonder:

Do the patients have to remain in the long term care facility, but not on meds?

After seeing how all psychiatric hospitals my daughter lived in work...I can safely say those places would be outta business if they didn't have psych medications, due to the fact that is the baseline therapy.

Especially in the state long term care, Western State. That is pretty much how the day goes; meds, take a break, meds, take a break, meds, take a break, PRNs go to sleep.

As much as I want 'freedoms of everything' for everyone, I sigh at the thought of psychs in these places actually embracing least restrictive alternatives, or even adding a therapist or 2 to their wards/units/floors.

I had a staff ask me to write a letter requesting a therapist be signed on to the ward staff at Western State Hospital.

He told me how they are not trained therapists, that they are pretty much there to break up fights. He said they do the best they can to talk to the patients and uplift them, but he seriously wanted help "besides the medications for these people."

Posted by: Stephany at October 11, 2006 08:25 AM

Jim Gottstein should be disbarred. Not only did he defy Judge Weinsteins order, he is involved heavily in non-drug treatment in Alaska. He owns properties that serve the mentally ill, and has friends to whom he caters and with whom he serves on various boards and quite possibly represents. His friends benefit from the vast amounts of money that is raised by one group and is then funneled into another. There is corruption and conflict of interest in treating the so-called mentally ill in Alaska. Some people fake it with the help of noted psychiatrists, and there seems to be no oversight.

I hope that your friend gets the help she needs. There are many ligitimate programs in Alaska. Just AVOID Ionia (www.ionia.org) and anyone with whom they are associated. They are scammers and fakers. And any of you reading this, beware of making any contributions to them.

Posted by: kevin quag at March 4, 2007 11:11 AM