Michigan's System for Protecting Patients' Rights

Michigan's approach to protecting patients' rights is based on the statutory guarantee of those rights, through the 1975 mental health code, and on a set of specific administrative procedures. An office of recipient rights was established in the Department of Mental Health, and rights advisers appointed in all 23 state institutions. When a complaint is filed, the institution is allowed to act first, to investigate the complaint and provide a remedy if it is substantiated. The state office monitors the institution's actions and intervenes when necessary or when a complainant appeals the outcome. During the first 17 months, 2258 complaints were filed. Of the 1866 resolved in that period, 572, or 31 per cent, were substantiated and resulted in remedial action.