Involuntary Commitment Argumentative Essay

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Part II Argumentative Essay Carla Saliba July 12, 2014 Pre-Writing mental illness, Involuntary commitment, what is mental illness, how many people are diagnosed with a mental illness each year, history of mental illness, how cultures used to perceive mental illness, what steps have to happen to have someone committed, do the mentally ill have rights, do they have access to a lawyer, has any involuntary committed patient ever sued for the commitment, what are the laws concerning mental illness and involuntary commitment. Mental Illness: Involuntary Commitment, Is it Legal? Mental Disorder as defined by Merriam-Webster Dictionary, A mental or bodily condition marked primarily by sufficient disorganization of personality, mind…show more content…
The laws in the United States require a court proceeding if an individual is forcefully admitted in excess of a brief period. According to most states in the U.S., police officers and appointed mental health professionals have the legal authority to involuntarily commit an individual for psychiatric evaluation. Once these individuals are committed, they are evaluated by Doctors, Psychologist, and / or Psychiatrist. If these professionals deem that the individual requires further commitment to a hospital, they must present written reports to the court and in some cases testify before the judge to justify the involuntary commitment. The person who is involuntarily committed, in some U.S. Jurisdictions don't have access to counsel. In other countries, such as India, the commitment is not time limited and does not require re-evaluation at fixed intervals. In the U.S., there are provisions for forcefully committing individuals to appeal legally the commitment through habeas corpus. This was the case in a famous U.S. Supreme Court decision in 1975, O'Connor v. Donaldson, when Kenneth Donaldson, a patient committed to Florida State Hospital, sued the hospital and staff for confining him for 15 years against his will when he was not imminently in danger to himself or others and was capable to a minimal degree of surviving on his own. (

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