From The New York Times: “Increasingly, patients, advocates and doctors believeĀ [psychiatric advance] directives (called PADs) could help transform the mental health system by allowing patients to shape their care even when they lose touch with reality. Hospitals must put them in patientsā medical records and doctors are expected to follow them unless they document that specific preferences arenāt in the patientsā best medical interest.
As the pendulum has swung from institutionalization to outpatient care, psychiatric directives also offer a middle path by allowing patients to designate family members to speak for them when theyāre too sick to do so themselves. […]
‘PADs could be a very important tool to minimize hospitalization and minimize involuntary commitment,’ said Cherene Allen-Caraco, chief executive officer of Promise Resource Network, a peer-counseling organization in Charlotte. By letting patients give permission beforehand to be committed to hospitals they prefer, the directives can avoid the arduous court-ordered commitment process ā traumatic for patients, especially if theyāre handcuffed by police.
‘And by listing whatās been hurtful to you in the past and whatās been helpful to you, that could be an advantage to the treatment provider,’ Ms. Allen-Caraco said.”
