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In reply to the discussion: Trump order pushes forcible hospitalization of homeless people [View all]Melon
(790 posts)Reagan implemented but he did not lead this. The ACLU fought this in court and won which led to closure of federal hospitals.
Beginning in the mid-1970s the ACLU filed a series of lawsuits against mental health hospitals for involuntarily holding patients.
The ACLU's most important Supreme Court case involving the rights of people with mental illness was filed on behalf of Kenneth Donaldson, who had been involuntarily confined in a Florida State Hospital for 15 years. He was not dangerous and had received no medical treatment. In a landmark decision for mental health law in 1975, a unanimous Supreme Court ruled that states cannot confine a non-dangerous individual who can survive on his own, or with help from family and friends.
https://www.aclu.org/other/aclu-history-mental-institutions
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