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Full-Text Articles in Law
The Justice Mission And Mental Health Law, Steven R. Smith
The Justice Mission And Mental Health Law, Steven R. Smith
Cleveland State Law Review
Mental health law's concern with justice, so much a part of the discussion of civil commitment, the insanity defense and other traditional mental health subjects, has been a neglected subject in one important area. Malpractice claims against mental health professionals commonly are slow, expensive and embarrassing for the professional and the injured. Processing these claims creates great stress on plaintiffs and defendants alike. The legal system has been insensitive to the harm it inflicts on mental health patients who pursue malpractice claims. Too often even patients' lawyers have also ignored the potential for harm. Because the current system conflicts with …
Justice, Mental Health, And Therapeutic Jurisprudence, David B. Wexler
Justice, Mental Health, And Therapeutic Jurisprudence, David B. Wexler
Cleveland State Law Review
Mental health law advocates and even scholars have typically been hostile toward, afraid of, or at best indifferent to, the mental health disciplines (mainly psychiatry and psychology) and their practitioners. Learning to be skeptical of supposed scientific expertise is an important lesson, and the law should never simply defer to psychiatry and the related disciplines. But to the extent that the legal system now ignores developments in the mental health disciplines, the lesson of healthy skepticism has been overlearned. It is my thesis, then, that those of us interested in 'justice" in mental health law ought not to adopt the …