HIV infection in Maryland public psychiatric facilities: results of an informal survey.

The Maryland Psychiatric Society (MPS) Public Psychiatry Committee, concerned with the preparedness of Baltimore mental health facilities to deal with the accelerating human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) epidemic, surveyed public sector mental health facilities. The survey results indicated that the number of HIV-infected patients is greatly underestimated. Care providers acknowledged awareness of the problem and wanted more education.

First year of Maryland's new CRP statute in one state hospital.

The first year of Maryland's new Clinical Review Panel (CRP) statute in one state psychiatric hospital is reviewed. CRPs provide a nonjudicial means to administer medication to an involuntarily committed psychiatric patient refusing medicines in a nonemergency situation. While the statute adds appropriate formal procedural protections and while the CRP process "works," the statute also adds the possibility of unnecessary legal proceedings. Clinical decisions about medications should be made by psychiatrists and not by lawyers or judges.