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  • Title: Hightower v. Olmstead.
    Author: U.S. District Court, N.D. Georgia, Atlanta Division.
    Journal: Fed Suppl; 1996 Sep 30; 959():1549-73. PubMed ID: 11648628.
    Abstract:
    The United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia decided that the voluntary administration of psychotropic medications to a group of mentally ill patients in a state mental hospital did not violate the requirements of either due process or informed consent. The court balanced the patients' liberty interest in avoiding unwanted medication against the state's parens patriae interest in the mental and physical health of state hospital patients and its interest in the safety of state institutions. Georgia's standard for involuntary administration of psychotropic drugs revolves around a determination of the patient being 'unsafe'. Broadly defined, a patient is 'unsafe' if the patient exhibits potentially dangerous thoughts or behaviors indicating significant risk of injurious or life-threatening conduct, a definition left to the discretion of medical professionals.
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