Emergency Commitment—A Transcultural Study
MICHAEL A. PESZKE M.D.1, and
RONALD M. WINTROB M.D.2
1 Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Lecturer in Law, University of Connecticut, Hartford, Conn.
2 Associate Professor of Psychiatry and of Anthropology, University of Connecticut, Hartford, Conn.
A questionnaire survey of psychiatrists concerning emergency involuntary hospitalization confirmed the authors' hypothesis that psychiatrists' attitudes toward it are subjective and that there is a lack of adequate criteria. They advocate peer review of commitments at the state or county level and the development of appropriate criteria in order to better balance the need for treatment with consideration of patients' civil rights.
