Patient rights: mentally disordered offenders may refuse medication

Mentally disordered delinquents receiving medical treatment as a condition of their parole may have the right to refuse to take antipsychotic medications. In re Qawi, the predominant Court of California granted the State Department of Mental Health Director's petition to reconsider the decision of the Court of Appeals, which held that a mentally disordered culprit has the same fights in California as an involuntary mental patient, including the right to refuse antipsychotic medication. (1) The court conclud that the right to refuse medication is not absolute, like that medication may be forced upon a mentally disordered offender in certain circumstances.