C|M|Law Students Working to Amend Ohio Psychiatry Patient Laws

Adjunct Professor David E. Schweighoefer has taught “Psychiatry and the Law” for over a decade at Cleveland-Marshall College of Law.  This year, several of his students are working on an independent study with him and St. Vincent Charity Medical Center with the objective of amending Ohio law concerning the mandatory transfer of patients needing psychiatric care to a licensed inpatient psychiatric unit.  The students are particularly looking at how current law may negatively impact patients who are primarily receiving care for medical, not psychiatric, reasons.  Schweighoefer is chair of Day Ketterer’s Health Care Law Practice Group, and he organized the collaborative project with C|M|Law and St. Vincent.  Students have met with St. Vincent physicians, staff and general counsel, as well as the Ohio Hospital Association Behavioral Health Work Group.  Students will soon meet with Ohio Department of Mental Health & Addiction Services staff and selected Ohio legislators to seek support for drafting legislation to give hospitals the ability to provide the best possible medical care to patients who may also need psychiatric care.