The Ethics of Involuntary Commitment to Mental Health Institutions:The Case of Joyce Brown

Mental illness carries a stigma unlike other illnesses because of the extent and the nature of interventions used to stabilize patients who are in crisis. This is especially so with those patients who, for a variety of reasons, refuse inpatient psychiatric care in a locked unit. Many patients become unnecessarily criminalized, injured and even die as a result of crisis interventions. This paper will explore the ethical issues surrounding the involuntary commitment of patients with mental illness, with emphasis on the case of Joyce Brown.

Method
Subjects / Participants: Joyce Brown

Joyce Brown, was a 40 year old African - American woman when she became the first homeless person living on the streets of New York to be involuntarily committed for psychiatric care in October, 1987. She was deliberately chosen by Mayor Ed Koch to be a test case for Project Help II, a program to identify and transport homeless people to hospital for psychiatric evaluation.

On November 18, 1987, a psychiatrist from a city mental health agency visited Brown on the street. He determined that she was "severely mentally ill and in need of immediate observation, care and treatment" (Johnson:1987, p. 30)

Design / Procedure
This paper references Jonsen, Seigler, Winslade model of case review, (Jonsen, et.al:2002) prepared by Russell Burck, Ph.D., Rush University.