The right to refuse mental health treatment: A therapeutic jurisprudence analysis

The controversy concerning the recognition and definition of a right to refuse mental health treatment has largely ignored the question of whether such recognition would be therapeutically beneficial or detrimental to the patient. Would such recognition lead to refusal of needed treatment so that patients will “rot with their rights on,” as some have suggested ?’ Will allowing offenders the choice whether to participate in correctional rehabilitation programs increase recidivism? Will patients forced to accept mental health treatment over objection improve and come, in time, to thank their doctor, retrospectively approving beneficial treatment they never would have accepted voluntarily?2 On the