What are your thoughts on the ethics of court-ordered forced drugging?

[bobthedrummer]

It's unethical as hell, but legal.
The drugs are often wrongful medications and harmful. Some are defective drugs and human experimentation is obtained without consent.
Some of these drugs put people into shock (the new shock therapy) cause seizures and even death.
I think it's marketing mind control for the pharmaceuticals, a big part of RW contributors.

[almostallhere]

1. what if the drugs are non-experimental, non-defective

and are prescribed/administered by skilled responsible medical personnel?

i know i am describing a (non-existant) best-case scenario, but i assume almost everyone is against defective drugs being forced on people - i am wondering what your thoughts are on this issue with these assumptions in mind.

[bobthedrummer]

2. In the 1990's I was in a NASW accredited Social Work program.

I know how ethics are supposed to be utilized. The forced-drugging of anyone is unethical imo. I've worked in human services with populations that included chronically mentally ill, adjudicated youths, on AODA treatment units and in a nursing home, all of which relied on medications that did more harm than good- too often imo.

[bobthedrummer]

3. SWAT teams have been sent out to ensure that some clients in the

mental health industry are taking powerful court ordered, but at the mercy of the psychiatrist's diagnostic abilities, medications.

SWAT teams, my fellow Americans, enforce compliance in some cases.

[DireStrike]

4. My mom works in a mental hospital and I think it is absolutely necessary..

...in some cases.

SOME conditions are very easy to diagnose and treat, and there are old and effective medications for them. Insane people are often not capable of making choices in their best interests. I can have my mom give you horror stories, if you like. These people need to be medicated, for their safety, the safety of medical staff, and sometimes the safety of others around them. There was a woman here in NYC, off her medication, pushing people onto train tracks.

This is by no means a completely cut and dry issue, but I believe the only question is in how you define insanity. Plenty of conditions impair people's judgement and remove their ability to make good choices. We must be careful in choosing treatments that can be administered and conditions that require mandatory treatment.