Right To Refuse Treatment Essay

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Recommended: Privacy and Amendments

The concept of a right to refuse treatment was built on basic rights to privacy, equal protection under the law, and due process. In other words, involuntarily hospitalized patients still have a right to decide what happens to their bodies.
The right of a patient to refuse treatment is based upon five constitutional protections the 8th amendment’s protection against cruel and unusual punishment the 1st amendment’s protection of free speech (freedom of thought / ideas) the 1st amendment’s protection of freedom of religion the more broadly interpreted right to privacy the 14th amendment’s protection of liberty (the right to be free from unjustified intrusions on personal security).
Within medicine, these constitutional guarantees have …show more content…

For example, one can be determined to be incompetent to execute a will, but may be deemed competent to make treatment decisions. Whenever possible, efforts are made to adjudicate incompetence in this manner. However, there are statutes that allow for the determination of general incompetency.8,9 In such cases, individuals who are in persistent vegetative states, severely demented, severely mentally retarded, or actively psychotic would be considered incompetent generally, i.e., incapable of any rational decision making while suffering from the prevailing …show more content…

“There are a lot of people in the justice system that is caught in the catch 22” (Insanity in the courtroom, 2017). Anytime a person commits an act that violates the social contract they must go through the process. Individuals are usually labeled as a sick person who receive treatment or a person that is found guilty and must be punished. Insane defense is not successful, because the justice system doesn’t seem to have any type of knowledge working with the mentally ill. The justice system wants to forcibly medicate the mentally ill, which can bring their death much closer. This is just like the death penalty the medication just take them away

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