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THE MENTAL HEALTH LEGAL ADVISORS COMMITTEE THE ADVISOR The Mental Health Legal Advisors Committee promotes understanding of new developments in mental health law, housing law, family law, and disability civil rights law through its legal journal the Advisor. As of 2004 the Advisor is no longer being published. Back issues of the Advisor are available for $25 per issue. Ordering information. See Table of Contents, Fall/Winter 2000 Advisor See Table of Contents, Winter/Spring '99 Advisor See Table of Contents, past Advisors since 1993 Below are some selected articles from recent and past Advisors. The Medicalization of Judicial Decision Making: This article is adapted from the keynote address by Dr. Paul Appelbaum, M.D., Chairperson of the Department of Psychiatry, U. Mass Medical Center, at the Judicial Training Conference on Mental Health Testimony in the Courtroom sponsored by the Mental Health Legal Advisors Committee and the Flaschner Judicial Institute, March 13, 1998. Dr. Appelbaum's article addresses age old cautions as to the limits of mental health professional experts. It seems particularly timely in light of the recent U.S. Capitol shoot out and the public turn to the mental health system for both causes and cures. An Unexpected Admission.: In this article in the Spring 1996 issue of the Advisor, attorney Jennifer Honig describes the sad and unnecessary sequence of events visited upon four women who were "pink-papered" into the Massachusetts mental health system. These stories demonstrate how easy it is for a Massachusetts resident to suddenly find him/herself in a mental hospital and how difficult it is to effect extrication from that situation. They also indicate how the statutory and regulatory requirements which are intended to prevent or correct these situations may be ignored or stretched beyond recognition. Waiting for DMA Reports: In the summer 1998 Advisor, attorney Susan Fendell reports on the status of mandated reports on the performance of the Massachusetts Behavioral Health Partnership, which manages the mental health care for Medicaid recipients and acute care for DMH clients. RETURN to MHLAC home page