PRO-PSYCHOTIC

Psychoticgenius can refuse treatment: Doctors must prove medication is needed; devastated mother says: 'I've lost my son' (Janice Tibbetts, June 07, 2003, The Ottawa Citizen)

A brilliant physicist -- compared to Beethoven, Sir Isaac Newton and Nobel-prize winning scientist John Nash of A Beautiful Mind fame -- won the legal right yesterday to refuse anti-psychotic drugs while detained in a psychiatric ward.

The Supreme Court of Canada, in a 6-3 decision, ruled Scott Starson can determine his own destiny as long as he is capable of understanding the consequences of his actions.

"The enforced injection of mind-altering drugs against the respondent's will is highly offensive to his dignity and autonomy and it to be avoided unless it is demonstrated that he lacked the capacity to make his own decision," Justice John Major wrote for the majority.

Mr. Starson -- who prefers to be called Professor Starson even though he is not one -- maintains he would rather spend the rest of his life institutionalized than take mind-numbing medication that prevented him from pursuing his passion of writing scientific papers.

"Professor Starson values his ability to work as a physicist above all other factors," wrote Justice Major.

"Professor Starson preferred his altered state to what he viewed as the boredom of normalcy."

Mr. Starson's mother, Jeanne Stevens, said the ruling amounts to a lifesentence for her son, whom she said will never get better now that hecannot be forced to take medication.

So long as it means he'll stay institutionalized, this is a defensibledecision. But the mainstreaming of the mentally ill has generally beendisastrous and it's dangerous to establish precedents that allow them to refuse treatments. Posted by Orrin Judd at June 8, 2003 3:51 PM