Home>5150>forced-7-14-02    

Mentally Ill Could Be Committed

August 14, 2002
By Chris Rizo, Correspondent

SACRAMENTO - A controversial bill that could allow judges to sentence mentally ill people to take their medication or face involuntary commitment passed a key legislative hurdle Tuesday, with the help of one local lawmaker. Aimed at keeping mentally ill patients out of jails and hospital emergency rooms, the proposal AB 1421 would begin a pilot program in which counties could allow judges to order people diagnosed with mental illnesses to comply with their treatment plans or face involuntarily commitment to a mental health facility for up to 180 days.

While critics argue the bill would trample the civil liberties of the mentally ill, members of the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 4-2 for the proposal, after several amendments were offered by the bill's author, Assemblywoman Helen Thomson, D-Davis.

"I hated this bill when it was first introduced four years ago," said local state Sen. Martha Escutia, D-Norwalk, chairwoman of the powerful committee. "But, now I am confident that the due process protections are there at every step of the way to protect their rights."

For decades, the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act has been used to protect the mentally ill. Under that law, certain medical professionals can involuntary detain for up to 72 hours those who, as a result of a mental disorder, are a danger to themselves or others.

But, unfortunately, current law doesn't do anything for the people who "are too sick to know that they are sick," Monrovia police Chief Joseph Santoro said in an earlier interview.

The bill is named "Laura's Law," for 19-year-old Laura Wilcox, who was killed last year when a diagnosed schizophrenic allegedly not taking his medicines burst into a Northern California mental health clinic where she was volunteering, opened fire, and killed three.

"We understand this bill raises significant civil rights issues," said Laura's mother, Amanda Wilcox, at Tuesday's hearing. "But when an individual's right not to take medication infringes so drastically on another family, then perhaps the civil liberties of mental health clients have gone too far."

Forcing mentally ill patients to comply with court-ordered treatment, she said, seems to be "a relatively benign measure" to balance the public's safety with the individual freedoms of the mentally ill.

Assemblywoman Thomson added, "This is not about stigma, blame or stereotypes, it's about getting assistance to those that need it.

Opponents, however, say forced treatment actually harms recalcitrant patients more than it helps.

"The very experience of forced treatment and cohesion, and the lack of respect and dignity, actually causes people to avoid treatment," said Sally Zinman, executive director of the Berkeley-based California Network of Mental Health Clients.

"Recovery is based on self-determination and choice," she continued. "That is what we are all fighting for here."

The Senate Appropriations Committee will hear the bill later this month.

The Whittier Daily News