Medication Overuse in Mental Health Facilities: Not the Answer, Regardless of Consent, Says Ethicist

Medscape July 1, 2024
Arthur L. Caplan, PhD

This transcript has been edited for clarity.

Hi. I’m Art Caplan. I’m the director of medical ethics at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine.

There’s a growing scandal in mental health care. Recent studies are showing that certain medications that basically are used to, if you will, quiet patients — antipsychotic drugs — are being overused, particularly in facilities that serve poorer people and people who are minorities. This situation is utterly, ethically unacceptable and it’s something that we are starting to get really pressed to solve.

Part of this is due to the fact that numbers of caregivers are in short supply. We need to get more people trained. We need to get more mental health...

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