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Mental Hospital Drugging - Atomistic And Structural Remedies, Sheldon Gelman

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

Thirty years have passed since the discovery of Thorazine, a neuroleptic drug, and the drugging of American state mental patients has become commonplace. Part I distinguishes between two approaches to remedy--"structural" and "atomistic"--and, as a basis for testing the two, describes a state hospital's handling of the most serious drug side effect. This account also provides a sense of the dimensions of the drugging problems in state hospitals. Part II explores a family of atomistic remedies. These would address drugging problems by seeking to ensure that state doctors are knowledgeable about drugs and/or reasonably careful in administering them. I reject …