San Jose Mercury News editorial: Say yes to help 07 08 02

EDITORIAL
Say yes to help: Mentally ill don't have to sink deeper into delusion - State Senate should restore AB 1421 and pass it

Where is the dignity for those who are in jail, homeless or lost? Most states have stepped in to help. California must do so. The Senate should restore the guts of Thomson's bill and pass it.

EVERY day throughout California, people suffering from severe mental illness fail to get therapy and medications that could relieve their suffering and help them lead more normal lives. They live on the street, or in jail, or with relatives who watch helplessly as their loved ones sink deeper and deeper into delusion or depression.

The sad part is that usually treatment is available, but the mentally ill refuse it, and state law prevents them from being forced into treatment until they hurt someone or are so sick that they can't care for themselves.

The current state law, passed in 1968, was written to protect patients' rights at a time when the mentally ill were routinely locked up, doped up and forgotten. Today, better medications and less restrictive, out-patient therapy are available. But treatment only works if the patients take their meds. And it is the nature of certain mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia, that patients refuse to get help.

Assemblywoman Helen Thomson, a psychiatric nurse, has fought for years to change the law to allow involuntary treatment when a person's condition is clearly deteriorating. Her efforts have been supported by many health care professionals and the families of the mentally ill. But she has faced stiff opposition from those she aims to help: mental health clients.

Two years ago, a sweeping reform bill she authored died in the Legislature. Last year she introduced a more modest bill, AB 1421, which passed the Assembly nearly unanimously. But last month a Senate committee, under pressure from civil libertarians, amended AB 1421 so drastically that it would have no impact. Thomson no longer supports it.

The purpose of Thomson's bill was to give judges the authority to force people who are severely ill to take their medications. She included several safeguards -- and more were written in -- to protect patients from unjust confinement. But AB 1421 clearly took away some freedom of choice from the mentally ill, some of whose advocates argue that involuntary treatment robs them of their dignity.

Where is the dignity for those who are in jail, homeless or lost? Most states have stepped in to help. California must do so. The Senate should restore the guts of Thomson's bill and pass it.