[Magdalen] Washington Post article on involuntary hospitalization of the mentally ill

[Roger Stokes]

On 03/02/2015 00:21, Ann Markle wrote:
> Susan, I read this article -- for some reason, it took me all day.  I
> remember making home visits to clients sometimes, and finding their living
> quarters in a condition that didn't seem good to me, but it's a hard line
> to draw, between "each to his (or her) own," vs. "these conditions are
> hazardous to the client and other building residents, or signs of worsening
> condition."  The article in the NY Times was almost opposite, about the
> closing of the Brooklyn Psychiatric Center and a man who had been admitted
> for the better part of 30 years, and what would be his life now.

Here in the UK we had a situation a few decades ago where the decision 
was made to close the long-term psychiatric units.  In the case of many 
residents it is (to say the least) questionable whether they should have 
been in such a facility but the fact was that they were and so it was a 
question of what to do with them.  They were going to be turfed out of 
what they regarded as their home.

I agree that for many (most?) pf the residents of these psychiatric 
institutions that was not an appropriate placement had they been 
considered on first presentation, but this was not the situation we were 
in.  I am far from convinced that what happened was appropriate or 
exhibited sufficient pastoral care for these long-term residents.

Roger