[Download] "Use of Advance Directives by People with Serious Mental Illness Under Virginia's Health Care Decisions Act: Implementation of a Major Public Health Reform Project Overview: December 31, 2010" by Developments in Mental Health Law ~ eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Use of Advance Directives by People with Serious Mental Illness Under Virginia's Health Care Decisions Act: Implementation of a Major Public Health Reform Project Overview: December 31, 2010
- Author : Developments in Mental Health Law
- Release Date : January 01, 2011
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 81 KB
Description
In 2009, the Virginia General Assembly enacted major amendments to the Commonwealth's Health Care Decisions Act (HCDA). The revisions were based on recommendations of the Supreme Court's Commission on Mental Health Law Reform, which had solicited extensive input from and involvement of a broad spectrum of stakeholder groups during a two-year period of deliberation and drafting (Bonnie et al., 2009). Because of the statutory revisions enacted in 2009 and 2010, the HCDA now provides a legal mechanism for persons with chronic health conditions, including serious mental illness (SMI), to document, while competent, their treatment instructions and preferences, and to authorize a healthcare agent to make treatment decisions for them during periods of incapacity, http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?000+cod+54.12981. These advance directives may also contain individualized, patient-centered plans to prevent crises, as well as to manage and recover from them. Legal advance directives for mental health treatment represent an innovative and promising approach for promoting treatment engagement and continuity of care for people with serious mental health conditions and could play a significant role in improving long-term health and safety outcomes for this population (Swanson et al., 2006; 2008; Wilder et al., 2007; 2010). A major goal of these directives is to empower psychiatric patients to control their own care and, in so doing, to reduce the need for coercive interventions during mental health crises (Swanson et al., 2000, Scheyett et al., 2007).