The Nation - News from Jan. 17, 1988

A Manhattan homeless woman, held in Bellevue Hospital Center against her will, cannot be forced to take anti-psychotic drugs. New York State Supreme Court Justice Irving Kirschenbaum found testimony given by the woman to be “straightforward, coherent and responsive” and said such medication would go “against the reasoned decision of the patient.” He noted that case law permits forced medication, but he said that “there has been no showing of dangerous or potentially destructive conduct” on the part of Joyce Brown, who was removed from her makeshift home on a hot-air vent under a New York program to involuntarily hospitalize homeless people who are mentally ill and considered a threat to themselves or others. The city contends that Brown suffers from chronic schizophrenia and that her condition will deteriorate.