I just quickly want to publish a response I sent to an email fro the people who support SB 226, who asked me why I didn't wholeheartedly support it on the blog. Here's what I wrote:

I suppose my reluctance comes from my advocacy work with consumer groups, many of which are led by or composed of people who have a history of involuntary commitment and horrible abuses as a result. I have always said, as you know, that hospitals are better than prisons. But let's not kid ourselves: hospitals are terrible too. I have rarely profited from a hospital stay. There's so much incompetence and negligence, it's unbelievable. Most of the time we sat around watching TV. I could have done that at home. Nurses are burnt out and indifferent. Doctors come sporadically, and are often condescending and cruel. Patients who are "acting out" are inappropriately restrained. People are forced to have treatment that doesn't help -- that does, in fact, great harm. Is it better than prison? Of course. But this application of this legislation would not be confined to that dichotomy: prison or hospital.

Additionally, I'm uncomfortable with force or coercion being used when the health care system is so subpar and when we know so little about how some psychiatric treatments work. Also, given the influence of the pharmaceutical industry and insurance companies on type of care and quality of care, how can I have faith that forced treatment will be the right treatment?