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healthcarejournalbr.com | July / August 2008 Issue |
Healthcare Journal of Baton Rouge
31
How has it come to be that our legal system plays such an
integral role in mental health issues? One simple answer is by
means of evolution. Long gone are the days when families
assumed caretaking obligations for relations who suffered
from a mental disability. This was followed by the predominant-
ly clinician-centered approach of the past century which
proved to be overly inclusive and all too often produced an
unconscionable human warehousing of persons who did not
comport with society's behavioral expectations. Thus, courts
now often decide whether a person will remain confined or be
allowed to live in a less restrictive environment.
Since such unenviable tasks have been passed to legal minds,
it must be asked if the profession is prepared for this respon-
sibility. History would suggest not. Granted, the United States
Supreme Court has moved well beyond its low-water mark of
allowing sterilization of the mentally ill in
Buck v Bell
. As the
great Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes said, “three generations
of imbeciles are enough.” However, the issues are very com-
plex, and the stakes exceedingly high, when attempting to bal-
ance the potential dangerousness of an individual to self or
others with the Constitutional right to liberty.
A growing number of legal educators are focusing their efforts
on addressing these types of issues. Among the more techno-
logically innovative approaches is a trend toward on-line edu-
cation in Mental Disability Law. This allows lawyers, clinicians,
and students from around the world to share ideas and expe-
riences. Michael L. Perlin, JD, a New York Law School
Professor, created the first Internet-based Mental Disability
Law courses to be offered by an American law school. Many
legal educators have responded enthusiastically to both the
importance of the legal issues and the unique opportunity to
Among the more technologically innovative approaches is a
trend toward on-line education in Mental Disability Law.
1793:
Philippe Pinel starts a movement in France for
better treatment of the mentally ill. Although mistreat-
ment remains widespread, a similar movement is pur-
sued by Eli Todd in America.
1808
: The idea of phrenology suggests that
personality traits are determined by skull
shape and bumps on the head.