University Of Pennsylvania Bioethicists Argue For Return Of The Mental Asylum

The Philadelphia Inquirer (1/21, Burling) reports that in a paper published in the Jan. 20 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, bioethicists from the University of Pennsylvania make the argument “for the return of the mental asylum.” In the article, called “Improving Long-term Psychiatric Care, Bring Back the Asylum,” the bioethicists argue that the US “has too few inpatient beds for people with serious mental illnesses.” For that reason, some people with severe mental illnesses “are winding up homeless or in prison, nursing homes, and hospital emergency departments.” The authors of the paper use the “original meaning” of the word asylum, that is, “a place of safety, sanctuary, and healing, or at least dignified healing for people who are very sick.”