Alison Hymes Research Paper

The Rights of Mental Ill

Alison Hymes fought for her patient rights; she was committed against her will. Alison sat in a small waiting room of a Virginia mental hospital; the morning of her recommitment hearing. She scribbled down her thought and list of arguments in favor of releasing her from Western State Hospital in Staunton, Va. She wrote everything down into her green composition book. Her notes included: Being at the hospital too long, and becoming institutionalized. Alison knew no one was going to listen to her. Ms. Hymes had six other recommitment hearings over the previous 17 months and repeatedly said the same thing at each one. A judge ruled that she was a danger to herself and involuntarily hospitalized her twice in three years.

Alison had a bipolar disorder that landed her multiple institutions for over three decades, but never for that long. The day prior to hearing, she posted on her social networks: “Afraid I will be committed for two more months.” Hymes wasn’t an ordinary patient. Prior to landing at Western, she spent years persuading others mental illness patients and their families not to let social workers, doctors nor judges make decisions for them. She took part of a state task force charged with changing civil commitment laws at the time, during 2007.
Are mentally disabled people overlooked because of their illness? Any disabled person should be treated with dignity as a human being. Should they be allowed rights because they can’t fully function? Are the family of the disable person supportive or have they gave up on
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them? Everybody needs support, and anybody can undergo a crisis or periods of overwhelm that would get labeled as “madness.” There are many different conditions that are recognized as a mental illness. I’m here with emphasis on how every mental disorder person should be treated with respect as a person who functions well; they are still humans. Mental illness is a condition that control’s a person thinking, feeling, or mood may affect, function on a daily basis, and ability to relate to others. Every mental person will have different experiences, even if they are diagnosed the same. The society doesn’t understand their pain because we aren’t going through their pain. According to Med MD, Mental illness people are protected by the following laws:
1. Americans with Disabilities- It protects people who have mental and physical disabilities from discrimination in government services, employment, public accommodations, transportation, activities, and commercial business.
2. Individuals with Disabilities Education Act- This law is design to help disability kids achieve a good quality education. Under the law, the public school system must create an education plan for each child with a disability, based on his or her needs.
3. Criminal Rights of Institutionalized Act- The law allows the government to investigate government facilities, such as institutions, for people with physical and mental disabilities to remedy any problems in the safety and care of these individuals.
4. Fair Housing Amendment Act- This law outlaws housing discrimination on the basis of certain conditions, including disability. Landlords and owners of rental housing must make reasonable attempts to accommodate people with disability.(Joseph Goldberg.2014)
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People with mental health conditions are some of the most neglected people in the world. In many countries, Mental illness is not considered a real medical condition, but viewed as a weakness of persona or as a punishment for immoral behavior. Even when people with a disorder are recognized as having a medical condition; the treatment they receive is often less than humane.
Any person who becomes voluntarily or involuntarily involved with the mental health system should have certain rights.

They should be limited to certain rights because their brain lacks capacity to make informal decisions. If committed in a mental hospital, every patient should be treated with proper care and respect. How can the rights of human with mental health conditions be protected and promoted? People with mental health conditions are exposed to a wide range of human rights violations. The stigma the face means they are often ostracized from society and fail to receive the care they require or the services and support they need to lead full lives in the community. In some communities, people with mental health disabilities are banished to the edge of the town, where they are left half-naked or in rags, tied up, hungry or even beaten. People in mental hospitals aren’t in better living environments. They are restrained with iron shackles, confined in caged bed, deprived of clothing, half decent bedding, clean water or proper toilet facilities and are subject to neglect and abuse. It’s unfair because they’re paying for better treatment that they would receive on the outside world. People with mental health conditions also face discrimination on a daily basis including in the fields of education, housing and employment. Some countries even prohibit people from voting, having children and even marrying. Human rights violations against people with mental disorder occur in

communities throughout the world –in mental institutions, hospitals, and in the wider communities.
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The hospitalization of mentally ill people, voluntary or involuntary is governed by state law.

Mentally ill people can be hospitalized in several different ways and the status varies from state to state. The goal is the status is to protect the sane and at the same time to prevent mentally ill people from being subjected to a needlessly surprising commitment experience. To end this effect, the law set up requirements and the hospital proceeding undertakes to determine whether the person involved comes under the different requirements. What’s involuntarily and voluntary commitment? In some situations, people with a mental illness can be made to go into a psychiatric hospital or institution against their will. The process is called an involuntary commitment and every state has a law for it, although those laws are not well known. Voluntary commitment is the act of a person being admitted to a mental health facility, psychiatric hospital, or voluntarily. Unlike involuntary commitment, the person is free to leave the hospital against medical advice, though a period of notice, or the requirement that the leaving take place during daylight hours, is sometimes required. If you have been admitted into an emergency facility without authorization, your admission was ordered by a court based certificate, physician, social worker, or clinical nurse, or psychologist. In some jurisdictions, a line is drawn between formal and informal voluntary commitment, and this may have an effect

on how much notice the individual must give before leaving the hospital. This period may be used for the hospital to use involuntary commitment procedures against the patient. Immediately upon your arrival at an emergency receiving facility, the facility must give you written notice of your right to petition for a protective order. Training is slowly becoming available in mental health first aid to equip community members such as administrators, teachers, medical workers, and police officers in managing situations where evolutions of behavior might be appropriate. This form of training is now spread in numerous places. Observations is used to determine whether or not a patient should be involuntarily committed. The United States have adopted commitment criteria based on the danger of the defendant to themselves or to others.
Many people outside of the mental health system are not necessarily aware of the law surrounding involuntary commitment. Yet most of the time those who work inside the mental health system take it for granted. Emergency commitment shows a summary method for hospitalizing persons dangerous to themselves to other at a short period of time. The law says, any person has the right to restrain a dangerous person until judicial procedures can begin. You have the right to be examined by a physician as soon as you get there, and no later than 48 hours after your admission. 24 hours of the signing of the certificate by a psychologist, you must be transferred to an evaluating facility unless you are released for outpatient treatment.
This can be at a time when that person feels he or she needs some extra support. Voluntary admission can be organized by the person who is being admitted, or by a doctor, parent, or guardian, by getting in contact with the psychiatric hospital. If you agree to confinement and treatment on a voluntary basis and you are made voluntary, you have the right to make a written request for your discharge at any time. The facility should provide you with a written form upon your request. Your written request for discharge must be delivered to the chief officer of the facility within 24 hours, not including holidays and weekends. The chief medical officer then has up to 72 hours, excluding holidays and weekends, to either release you proceed for involuntary inpatient treatment.