Thursday, October 23, 2003

Psychiatric Documents Can Aid Mentally Ill in Crises
Newhouse News Service story on advance directives - "People with psychiatric problems who struggle daily to maintain their footing are relying on an increasingly popular document to protect them if they falter: a page or two of written instructions that spell out their care. ... No national estimate exists on how many people have chosen the tool, and doubts persist among skeptics who see risks in giving patients a forceful voice regarding their treatment in psychiatric emergencies. ... Some of the documents are written under state laws on living wills that allow people to formalize choices for end-of-life medical care. Some states -- Ohio recently became the 19th -- have enacted laws that specifically outline procedures for establishing an advance directive for mental health care. The first large-scale study of PADs is under way with a $2 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health..." See also the September 16 Duke University Medical Center press release, NIMH Funds $1.98 Million Study to Examine Effectiveness of Advance Directives for Patients with Mental Illnesses, which notes that "Additional research funding for the study has been provided by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Greenwall Foundation."