Forced Medications

6 Pages 1554 Words

To insure that all patients have rights, President Bill Clinton passed a bill in September 1996. This bill was appropriately called The Patient’s Bill of Rights. This bill states that no patients can be physically, emotionally, sexually, or financially abused or neglected. One of the rights in this bill is the patient’s right to take part in one’s own medical treatment plan. Unfortunately not every patient has the mental capacity to do this. A patient may be uneducated about the plan or mentally impaired. This is when patient advocates need to be employed.

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Another right in this bill is the patient’s right to refuse treatment. This bill is violated every day, in one form or another. I have worked in health care for nine years. I have seen patients being forced to take medication. Of course, this doesn’t necessarily mean physically forced into someone’s mouth. It can mean lying to a confused patient, and telling them that the medication is candy, or giving medication in food without the patient’s knowledge. All of these examples are violations of patients’ rights.
Some cases of forced medications are more extreme. By law, our government can force a person to take antipsychotic medication. One example of this is the case of US vs. Sell. In this case, Dr. Sell, a nonviolent pretrial detainee was forced to take antipsychotic, mind-altering drugs. The judge in this case ruled that Dr. Sell was mentally incompetent to withstand a trial. During the trial Dr. Sell, who suffers from a mental disorder, was spitting and shouting out racial slurs. However, there is not proof that Dr. Sell is a threat to himself or others. He was being rude and difficult to manage. This does not give the judge the right to force medication on him.
Restraining patients for conve...