Center for Public Representation attorneys have contributed to the development of mental and physical disability law by publishing books and writing articles for scholarly and popular journals. Several of these published works have been favorably cited by courts in important opinions.
Emergency Department Treatment of the Psychiatric Patient:
Policy Issues and Legal Requirements
by Susan Stefan
Many hospital emergency departments are overcrowded and short-staffed, with a limited number of available hospital beds. It is increasingly hard for emergency departments and their staff to provide the necessary level of care for medical patients. Caring for people with psychiatric disabilities raises different issues and calls on different skills.
In Emergency Department Treatment of the Psychiatric Patient, Dr. Stefan uses research, surveys, and statutory and litigation materials to examine problems with emergency department care for clients with psychiatric disorders. She relies on interviews with emergency department nurses, doctors and psychiatrists, as well as surveys of people with psychiatric disabilities to present the perspectives of both the individuals seeking treatment, and those providing it.
This eye-opening book explores the structural pressures on emergency departments and identifies the burdens and conflicts that undermine their efforts to provide compassionate care to people in psychiatric crisis. In addition to presenting a new analysis of the source of these problems, Dr. Stefan also suggests an array of alternatives to emergency department treatment for people in psychiatric crisis. Moreover, the author proposes standards for treatment of these individuals when they do inevitably end up in a hospital emergency department.
Emergency Department Treatment of the Psychiatric Patient presents a thoughtful and thorough analysis of the difficulties faced by people with psychiatric disabilities when seeking emergency medical care. It is essential reading for anyone working in a hospital emergency department, as well as health care policy makers, and advocates and lawyers for people with psychiatric disabilities.
Click here to access the Order Form for Emergency Department Treatment of the Psychiatric Patient
The following featured books may be purchased directly from the publishers by following the links:
Hollow Promises : Employment Discrimination Against People With Mental Disabilities
by Susan Stefan, JDAlthough passed into law with high expectations, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) has mostly failed in enabling those with mental disabilities to fight discrimination in the workplace. In Hollow Promises, Susan Stefan explores the reasons for this failure and points to how the courts, government, and employers may finally make good on the ADA's seemingly hollow promises. This book identifies the difficulties that people with mental disabilities may have in finding and keeping employment and how the ADA has affected this problem. Those with mental disabilities, like most people, want to work to support themselves and find respect and personal fulfillment. But because of deep-rooted prejudices against those with disabilities, obtaining and holding a job can be an epic task. Filled with detailed descriptions of employment cases and sharp analysis of the law, this provocative book is essential reading for lawyers, employers, therapists, people with mental disabilities, and all those seeking just employment practice.
Unequal Rights : Discrimination Against People With Mental Disabilities and the Americans with Disabilities Act
by Susan Stefan, JDThis provocative book illustrates how the Americans with Disabilities Act has failed to alleviate discrimination against people with mental disabilities. Rich in descriptions of court cases and disability law, Susan Stefan shows how the ADA has been applied in a wide range of areas, such as employment, insurance, medical care, education, and professional licensing. Throughout, Stefan, a professor of law, intertwines moving first person accounts with a wealth of hard to find information (complaints under the ADA court settlements, opinion letters, and testimony from Congressional hearings).
This book features a unique survey compiled by the author that compellingly describes how people with mental disabilities experience discrimination. Stefan discovered two groups: Those who are part of the American mainstream and who report that people often refuse to believe their struggles, and those who are publicly identified as "mentally ill" and who are considered incapable of any type of achievement. 448 Pages.
The author persuasively argues that America's current economic, legal, and social structures cannot accommodate the truth that mental disability is a continuing struggle that can - and often does - coexist with achievement and success. This bold and challenging book is an ideal resource for lawyers, people with mental disabilities, therapists, and anyone who seeks to understand the full impact of disability law.
Guardianship and Conservatorship in Massachusetts, Second Edition by John H. Cross, Robert D. Fleischner, Jinanne S.J. Elder
Used by bench and bar, this complete practice manual covers the appointment of guardians and conservators of mentally disabled individuals and children. Learn the workings of the system - all the players, rules, and documents that are necessary to do your job well. Devise strategies guided by authors who have "been there" and understand the huge demands on your time. Learn, for example, how to persuade the court regarding difficult questions such as: a person's right to die; whether to medicate for psychotic symptoms; whether to limit or expand a guardian's powers; a ward's right to vote; whether a mentally retarded woman can be sterilized; whether a child should be removed to the custody of the DSS. The material is updated by annual supplements.
Reprints and hard copies of most (but not all) of the following articles are available, usually for cost of copying, from the Center for Public Representation. For information call the Center's Northampton office at 413-586-6024, or send an e-mail request to info@cpr-ma.org.
Books and Articles by Steven J. Schwartz
“Social Control Through the Law,” 49 Psychiatric Services 1099 (1998)(book review)
“Abolishing Competency as a Construction of Difference: A Radical Proposal to Promote the Equality of Persons with Disabilities,” 47 Miami Law Rev. 867 (1993)
“Legal Challenges to Discrimination Against Women with Alcohol Disabilities: Punishment For No Crime,” 76 Massachusetts Bar J. 229 (1991)
“Establishing Standards for Care of Persons with Disabilities through Damage Actions,” 17 New York U. Rev. of Law and Social Change 651 (1990)
“Protection and Advocacy for People Who are Labeled Mentally Ill,” Chapter in Advocacy in Institutions (l987)
“Compulsory Community Treatment: Distorted Doctrines and Violated Values,” 20 Loyola L. R. 1329 (l987)(with Cathy E. Costanzo)
“Equal Protection Principles in Medical Care to People With Disabilities: Informed Consent, Not The Right to Refuse,” chapter in Symposium on Right to Refuse Treatment, American Bar Association, Commission on the Mentally Disabled (1985)
New Community Opportunities for People With Retardation: Legal Manual for Consumers, Families, and Workers (l985) (co-author) "Rights of Institutionalized Persons," in Guardianships, Conservatorships, Civil Commitments, and Rights of Institutionalized Persons, Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education (1984)
"Massachusetts Complaint Procedure," 8 Mental and Physical Disability Law Reporter 5 (Sept. - Oct. 1984)
“Protecting the Rights and Enhancing the Dignity of People With Disabilities,” 14 Rutgers Law J. 541 (June 1983) (co-author)
“The Massachusetts Constitutional Amendment: Prohibiting Discrimination on the Basis of Handicap,” 16 Suffolk Law J. 47 (1982) (co-author)
A Legal Service Delivery System for Persons With Mental Handicaps (NIMH Report 1982) (co-author)
Establishing and Maintaining An Institutional Advocacy Program: Representing People With Handicaps (Legal Services Corporation 1981) (co-author)
Community Mental Health Law Bibliography, Irvington Press (1981)
“Representing Defendants in Civil Commitment Proceedings,” Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education (1981)
"Preparation and Trial of a Civil Commitment Case," 5 Mental Disability Law Reporter 281 (July - August 1981)
"Legal Advocacy for Persons Confined in Mental Hospitals," 5 Mental Disability Law Reporter 274 (July - August 1981) (co-author)
Trial Manual for Civil Commitment (Mental Health Legal Advisors Committee, rev'd. ed. 1980) (co-author)
"The Mental Patients Advocacy Project," Advocacy Now (September 1980)
"Community Residential Regulations," 4 Mental Disability Law Reporter 125 (March - April 1980)
Models for Legal Advocacy Systems for Institutionalized Persons: Final Report of the Mental Patients Advocacy Project (NIMH 1979) (co-author)
"The Civil Commitment Hearing," 1 Mental Disability Law Reporter 379 (March - April 1977)
Books and Articles by Robert D. Fleischner
Guardianships and Conservatorships in Massachusetts, Second Edition, Lexis Law Publishers (2000)(Annual supplements through 2007) with John H. Cross and Jinanne S.J. Elder
"Representing Clients Who Have or May Have 'Diminished Capacity': Ethics Issues," 41 Clearinghouse Rev. J.of Poverty L. & Pol'y 346 (2007) with Dara L. Schur
“Advance Directive for People with Mental Illness: A Survey of State Law,” 4 Psychology, Public Policy & Law 788 (1998), reprinted in Carol Krohm & Scott Summers, Advance Health Care Directives: A Handbook for Professionals, American Bar Association (2002).
Representing Clients with Mental Illness, Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education [MCLE] (2000)(Editor with Jennifer Honig)
“Standby and Emergency Proxies,” in Christopher G. Mehne (ed.), Massachusetts Guardianship and Conservatorship Practice, MCLE (2000).
“Access to Mental Health Care and Treatment,” in Steven Rosenfeld, et al, Access to Health Care: Representing Clients with Disabilities or Chronic Illness, MCLE (1998).
“Has the Time for Guardianship Reform Finally Arrived?” 14 Massachusetts Family Law Journal 93 (1997)
“Fair Housing Law and the Siting of Community Residences,” in Ernest Winsor (ed.), Housing and Disability: Securing Housing for Poor People with Disabilities, MCLE (1997)
“Privatization and Managed Health Care: Implications for Involuntary Mental Health Care and Treatment,” 12 Massachusetts Family Law Journal 21 (1994).
“Managed Health Care: Implications for Involuntary Care and Systemic Coercion,” in Symposium Proceedings, Involuntary Interventions: The Call for a National Legal and Medical Response, University of Texas Medical Center (1994).
“Representing Patients or Family Members in Termination or Refusal of Treatment Cases,” in Jonathan Brandt (ed.), “Right to Die”: Planning Ahead, MCLE (1991)
“Guardianships with the Authority to Administer Antipsychotic Medication,” 9 Massachusetts Family Law Journal 1 (1991).
“Protecting the Rights and Enhancing the Dignity of People with Disabilities: Standards for Effective Legal Advocacy,” l4 Rutgers Law Journal 54l (l983) (co- author).
Book Review, “Legal Rights and Mental Health Care,” 5 West. New Eng. L. Rev. 1001 (l983)
Models for Legal Advocacy Systems for Institutionalized Persons: Final Report of the Mental Patients Advocacy Project (NIMH 1979) (co-author)
“Legal Advocacy for Persons Confined in Mental Hospitals,” 5 Mental Disability Law Reporter, (July-August l98l)(with Steven J. Schwartz)
Community Non-Residential Regulations, Mental Disability Law Reporter (April-May l980)(co-author)
Books and Articles by Susan Stefan
Hollow Promises: Employment Discrimination Against People With Mental Disabilities, (American Psychological Association Press 2002).
Unequal Rights: Discrimination Against People with Mental Disabilities and the Americans with Disabilities Act (American Psychological Association Press, 2001)
“Delusions of Rights: Americans with Psychiatric Disabilities, Employment Discrimination and the Americans with Disabilities Act,” 52 Alabama Law Review 271 (2000)(symposium issue)
“The Americans with Disabilities Act and Mental Health Law: Issues for the Twenty-first Century,” 10 Journal of Contemporary Legal Issues 131 (1999)(symposium issue)
“You'd Have to Be Crazy to Work Here: Worker Stress, the Abusive Workplace, and Title I of the ADA,” 31 Loyola Law Review 795 (1998)(symposium issue).
“The Impact of Law on Women with Diagnoses of Borderline Personality Disorder Related to Childhood Sexual Abuse,” in Levin, Blanch and Jennings, ed., Women's Mental Health Services: A Public Health Perspective (Sage 1998).
“Race, Competence Testing, and Disability Law: A Review of the MacArthur Competence Research,” 2 Psychology, Public Policy and Law 31 (1996).
“Reforming the Provision of Mental Health Treatment,” in Cary Moss, ed. Man-Made Medicine: Women's Health, Public Policy, and Reform, Duke University Press (1996).
“Issues Relating To Women and Ethnic Minorities in Mental Health Treatment and Law,” in Bruce Sales and Dan Shuman, eds. Law, Mental Health and Mental Disorder, Brooks/Cole (1996).
“Dancing in the Sky Without a Parachute: Love and Sex in Mental Institutions,” in Clarence Sundrum, ed., Choice and Autonomy, New York Commission on Quality of Care for the Mentally Disabled (1994).
“The Protection Racket: Violence Against Women, Psychiatric Labelling and Law,” 88 Northwestern University Law Review 1271 (June 1994).
“Silencing the Different Voice: Competence, Feminist Theory, and Law,” 47 Univ. of Miami Law Review 763 (1993).
“What Constitutes Departure from Professional Judgment?” 17 Mental and Physical Disability Law Reporter 207 (March/April 1993).
“Leaving Civil Rights To The `Experts': From Deference To Abdication Under The Professional Judgment Standard,” 102 Yale L.J. 639 (1992).
“Preventive Commitment: Administrative and Legal Pitfalls in Creating a Coercive Community,” 11 Journal of Health and Human Resources Administration 459 (Spring 1989).
“Whose Egg Is It Anyway? Reproductive Rights of Institutionalized, Incarcerated, and Incompetent Women,” 13 NOVA Law Review 405 (1989).
“Advocating for Mothers in the Mental Health System,” in Protection And Advocacy For People Who Are Labelled Mentally Ill (Mental Health Law Project 1987).
“Preventive Commitment: The Concept and its Pitfalls,” Mental and Physical Disability Law Reporter, Vol. 11, No. 14 (July-August 1987).
“Mothers in the Mental Health System” in Isensee and Tarr-Whelan, eds., The Women's Economic Justice Agenda: Ideas for the States, Washington, D.C.: National Center for Policy Alternatives (1987).
“Ill Are Entitled To Rights - And Care,” Editorial, USA Today (March 5, 1987).
“The Psychiatric Cure For Homelessness: Wrong Diagnosis, Wrong Treatment,” New Physician (December 1986).
“The Right To Counsel In Commitment Proceedings,” Mental and Physical Disability Law Reporter, Vol. 9, No. 3 (May-June 1985).
Articles by Cathy E. Costanzo
“Compulsory Community Treatment: Distorted Doctrines and Violated Values,” 20 Loyola L. R. 1329 (l987)(with Steven J. Schwartz)
New Community Opportunities for People With Retardation: Legal Manual for Consumers, Families, and Workers (l985) (co-author)
“Protecting the Rights and Enhancing the Dignity of People With Disabilities,” 14 Rutgers Law J. 541 (1983) (co-author)
Articles by David Engle
“Discharge After NGRI: Superior Court Applies § 9(b) Standards,” 50 Advisor 23 (2000)([Massachusetts] Mental Health Legal Advisors Committee)
Representing the Mentally Impaired Defendant, Mental Health Legal Advisors Committee (1985)
