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The San Francisco Chronicle

June 12, 2002

Reprinted with permission. Copyright 2002 The San Francisco Chronicle. All rights reserved.

EDITORIAL
A vote to save lives

FOR DECADES, California has neglected the plight of the seriously mentally ill, at great cost to our society. The effects are apparent on the streets every day, in the wrenching struggle of those whose illness robs them of any hope of leading a stable life.

Today, the state Senate Health and Human Services Committee is scheduled to vote on AB1421, by Assemblywoman Helen Thomson, D-Davis, which would address one of the indisputable sources of the dysfunction that can lead to homelessness. Her bill would reform the 1967 Lanterman-Petris-Short Act -- legislation that had the unintended consequences of making it extremely difficult for a judge, family member or physician to compel a mentally ill person to accept treatment and medication. Her bill would give courts enhanced flexibility to order treatment in outpatient settings.

This bill is essential to breaking the cycle of despair that pulls people from the streets to jail and back again. Its due-process provisions show proper respect for the rights of individuals to make medical decisions for themselves. But one of the symptoms of certain illnesses is an inability to recognize one's severe disorder.

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