Division of Forensic Psychiatry, Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, Saint Louis University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63104, USA.
J Am Acad Psychiatry Law. 2012;40(1):98-112.
In United States v. Loughner the Ninth Circuit will soon address the constitutionality of involuntarily medicating an incompetent pretrial defendant through a Harper order that could serve to render him competent to stand trial without the added procedural protection of a judicial hearing. Judicial support for applying Harper orders to pretrial defendants is likely to be used to justify Harper orders for pretrial jail detainees, allowing them to be involuntarily medicated in a jail setting, even though the place of involuntary medication was not at issue in the Loughner case. Because of the critical clinical, ethics-related, and legal concerns for such practice, the potential misapplication of the Loughner ruling should be considered by the Ninth Circuit before rendering its decision. This is, however, unlikely because the Ninth Circuit has just determined that Loughner will continue to be involuntarily medicated, regardless of whether this occurs in a hospital or in a nonmedical correctional facility.
在美国诉劳赫纳案中，第九巡回上诉法院即将审理通过哈珀命令强制治疗无行为能力的审前被告的合宪性问题，该命令可能会使被告具有接受审判的能力，而无需通过司法听证获得额外的程序保护。司法部门支持将哈珀命令适用于审前被告，这可能被用来为审前拘留者的哈珀命令提供依据，允许他们在监狱环境中被强制治疗，尽管劳赫纳案中并没有涉及强制治疗的地点问题。由于这种做法存在严重的临床、伦理和法律问题，在做出裁决之前，第九巡回上诉法院应该考虑劳赫纳裁决的潜在不当适用。然而，这种情况不太可能发生，因为第九巡回上诉法院刚刚决定，无论劳赫纳是在医院还是在非医疗矫正设施中被强制治疗，他都将继续被强制治疗。
