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I have mixed feelings about this both professionally and personally.
I did a little on-line research. The "assisted outpatient treatment" that Doc John talks about is NOT enforced hospitalization. It's court ordered outpatient treatment - i.e. - a court order saying someone living in the community must take their meds and comply with treatment.
Ah man, I see both sides of this issue, people who aren't taking their meds who break the law and end up in jail or prison. Something that could have been avoided if they'd been on their meds. Yet, there's a history of governments abusing the power to force people into treatment. Which is a greater infringement on the person's freedom - forcing them to take a medication that will help them stay out of jail or locking them up?
On the flip side, at one point during the early states of Alzheimer's my mother forgot to take her blood pressure medication. It caused a cascade of medical problems that made her act in some bizarre ways. During that time she refused to take her meds. Her primary doc admitted her to the psych unit as a result. I went ballistic and told the doc she had the right to refuse her meds. I ended up having to go to court and be appointed her guardian. She didn't need to be on a psych ward. She needed her blood pressure med.
I'm probably going to take some heat for this, but there's a flaw in Doc John's logic. He compares a mental health diagnosis with terminal cancer. Menatl health disorders are not, in and of themselves, terminal. They can lead to fatal behavior, but they, themselves, do not lead to death. I'm going to fall back on the saying "suicide is a permenant solution to a temporary problem." I've been suicidal in the past due to my mental health problems. My T once asked me if I had a plan. I asked him which one he wanted to know about. At that point in my life I could not see any other way out of the pain I was in. Thankfully, I'm no longer in that place in my head after a lot of hard work in therapy and my meds.
Having said all this, I do believe in a person's right to decide when they've had enough. I have some significant health problems. I want the right to "check out" if I reach a point that I'm going to die a slow, painful death. I want to have that last bit of control of my life. I believe others have the same right. At the same time, it bothers me that someone in a temporary situation might make a very permenant decision how to deal with it. So I guess I'm sitting on the fence.
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