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Innovative Statutory Approaches to Civil Commitment: An Overview and Critique

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 April 2021

Daniel W. Shuman
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Extract

The study of society's approach to civil commitment of the mentally ill is made particularly interesting by the strength of the values it finds in conflict. On one plane, “good” or “moral” people are supposed to provide care for those unable to care for themselves. The capacity to consider the needs of others helps define our “humanness.” In this context, this value manifests itself in the attempt to provide mental health care for those unable, because of their illness, to provide it for themselves.

On another plane, however, the oppression that drove many to immigrate to America and that resulted in our own revolution has left us with an abiding fear of governmental limitations on individual autonomy. Cries of totalitarianism and “big brotherism” often accompany governmental attempts to restrict that autonomy. In this context, this value manifests itself in the attempt to permit individuals to choose whether to receive mental health care.

Type
Article
Information
Law, Medicine and Healthcare , Volume 13 , Issue 6 , December 1985 , pp. 284 - 289
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics 1985

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