Although Osheroff v. Chestnut Lodge never reached final court
adjudication, the case generated widespread discussion in psychiatric,
legal, and lay circles. The author served as a consultant to Dr. Osheroff
and testified that Chestnut Lodge failed to follow through with appropriate
biological treatment for its own diagnosis of depression, focusing instead
on Dr. Osheroff's presumed personality disorder diagnosis and treating him
with intensive long-term individual psychotherapy. The author suggests that
this case involves the proposed right of the patient to effective treatment
and that treatments whose efficacy has been demonstrated have priority over
treatments whose efficacy has not been established.
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