No, really.
here’s the link: http://www.time.com/time/daily/special/look/0,2633,40257,00.html
Is it ethical to take a well-controlled schizophrenic off his meds to demonstrate to a jury his insanity/inability to control his actions when not under treatment?
Is it ethical for a judge to order him to take his meds in order to decrease disruption in the courtroom?
What say the members of the SDMB GD jury?
Sue from El Paso
Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted.
Yes (assuming the patient/client consents to it), and no.
I don’t think so, especially not in this case. The purpose is entirely for show to the jury. If he was as bad as the story claims, then testimony from him, his medical personnel, and his file should be plenty without making such a spectacle.
Also, if he asked the state to permanently commit him several times and they refused (knowing that compliance among schizophrenics is notoriously bad), they should share some liability.
I don’t even think it’s legal. She could set the condition that he will take his meds if he is to be in her courtroom, but my understanding is that you can’t legally force someone to take any medication if they’re not declared incompetent. (I could be wrong.)
Dr. J
It would appear that the defendent is being allowed to decide whether or not to take his medication - it’s being offered to him twice a day during the trial. As it is his choice, I can’t say that the tactic is unethical in regards to his own health.
However, he may pose a very real risk to members of the court as well as the police and prison officials in charge of him. The article did state that he’d already struck a social worker on two occasions. I think the judge’s decision to force medication on him when there is still the alternative of video taped testimony is unethical.
Why is he on trial? The man has a lengthy history of violent mental illness, and the prosecutions assertation that he acted with sane yet malicious intentions is ridiculous. This is a seriously ill man, and he needs to be kept in a mental health facility where he can receive the treatment he needs.
This is a man who knows he’s sick, who has appealed to the authorities to voluntarily commit him so that he’s not a danger to others, who has apparently convinced every mental health expert he’s come in contact with that he is dangerously ill. I think the author is correct in saying that he acted more responsibly than the government that is now prosecuting him.
If there is a chain of responsibility, it rests with the people who slashed mental health budgets so far that we can no longer shield the public from violently insane people or help treat those insane people to begin with. In a way, the people responsible for cutting funding to public health are responsible for Webdale’s death.
Contamiated with what? I’d sure love to get my hands on some of whatever it was. 
Life is a tragedy for those who feel and a comedy for those who think.
Why not just administer drugs to the jury to induce schizophrenia? Seems like the easiest solutions are always overlooked.
What game are YOU playing?
I agree with you, phouka, that with the information presented in the TIME piece, that it appears that Andrew Goldstein is as much a victim as the woman he killed.
I’m not sure that the TIME piece presented all of the information, though.
I would like to add, however, that I was deeply impressed with a segment on 20/20 (or maybe 60 Minutes) a few weeks ago that used virtual reality to show what some schizophrenics hear & see in their hallucinations. A doctor sitting behind a desk leans forward slightly to engage the patient more directly on the real camera. On the VR camera, his face morphs into a demon & appears to be within nose-touching distance. All the while, the doctor’s voice is in the background. In the foreground, are voices chanting, and occasionally saying clearly such things as he hates you or you are worthless.
In one scene, a well-controlled schizophrenic put the VR helmet on and pulled it off within 15 seconds, looking obviously shaken by what he had seen & heard.
What a God-awful way to live.