State Right to Refuse Medication Laws and Procedures: Impact on Homicide and Suicide.

State Right to Refuse Medication Laws and Procedures: Impact on Homicide and Suicide. J Ment Health Policy Econ. 2016 Sep;19(3):141-54 Authors: Edwards G Abstract BACKGROUND: As part of the expansive overhaul of the mental health system that occurred in the latter half of the 20th Century, many states passed laws that allow, under certain conditions, voluntary and involuntarily committed patients to refuse medication. While some predicted the consequences of these laws would be dire, the effect on violent behavior remains untested. AIMS OF THE STUDY: The aim is to decipher any differences state right to refuse medication laws may have on violence. METHOD: Using the homicide rate of every US state between 1972 and 2001 (N = 1,479), and the suicide rate between 1981 and 2001 (N = 1,071). The study compares the difference in homicide/suicide rates before and after a law change to that same difference in a set of control states to estimate the effect of laws aimed at extending the right to refuse medication to both voluntary and involuntarily committed mental health patients. RESULTS: Laws designed to allow voluntarily committed patients to refuse medication are associated with a 0.8 increase in homicides per 100,000 of the state population while laws dictating an involuntarily committed patient's right to request refusal of medication are negative but statistically insignificant using standard t test. Laws design...
Source: Journal of Mental Health Policy and Economics - Category: Psychiatry Tags: J Ment Health Policy Econ Source Type: research