September
11, 2005
UAA SWK -643
9
When
Forced Drugging Constitutionally
Permissible?
Court Must Conclude:
1.Important governmental interests are at stake,
2.Will significantly further those state interests -
substantially unlikely to have
side effects that will interfere significantly (with achieving state interest),
3.Necessary to further those interests. The court must
find that any alternative,
less intrusive treatments are unlikely to achieve substantially the same results, and
4.Medically appropriate, i.e., in the patient's best
medical interest in light of
his medical condition. The specific kinds of drugs at issue may matter here as elsewhere. Different kinds of antipsychotic
drugs may produce different
side effects and enjoy different levels of success.
Sell v. United States, 539 U.S. 166, 177-8, 123 S.Ct. 2174, 2183 (2003) (Competence
to Stand Trial Case).