Morton Birnbaum was an American lawyer and physician who advocated for the right of psychiatric patients to have adequate, humane care, and who coined the term sanism.
17 Facts About Morton Birnbaum
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Morton Birnbaum went as far as suggesting that if suitable treatment was not provided then the person should be entitled to be released, even if this presented a risk to themselves and others.
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Morton Birnbaum attended Erasmus Hall High School and then Columbia University.
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Morton Birnbaum earned his medical degree from New York Medical College in 1957.
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Morton Birnbaum then undertook a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University in 1958, which included a training program funded by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health.
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Morton Birnbaum earned his final degree, a Juris Doctor from Columbia University in 1961.
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Morton Birnbaum would spend the next decade fighting similar cases, often using his own funding to finance his expenses.
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Morton Birnbaum first took on the case in the late 60's, though he had many earlier contacts with Donaldson beginning around 1960, encouraging him unsuccessfully to petition the courts for his release.
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In 1967 Morton Birnbaum petitioned the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals on behalf of Donaldson, but when he was turned down, he decided to file the case with the Supreme Court.
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In helping to bring the Florida-based Donaldson case to the US Supreme Court in the landmark case O'Connor v Donaldson, Birnbaum was instrumental in not only "confirming the right to treatment" for many mental patients, but in "proposing a way to achieve better therapy for those now in inadequate public mental hospitals".
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Morton Birnbaum lamented the obstacles of obtaining treatment, noting that in Florida there was only one Doctor for one thousand patients.
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Morton Birnbaum argued that his client would have to be released if he did not receive proper care.
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Around 1966, Morton Birnbaum argued that offenders diagnosed as psychopaths should more often be sent to mental hospitals than prisons.
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However, as Morton Birnbaum pointed out, there was little in the way of effective enforcement, as was true in other cases he successfully brought to a verdict.
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Morton Birnbaum is credited with coining the term sanism, a form of discrimination, which he felt was in all areas of life and which obstructed justice in the courtroom.
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Morton Birnbaum was horrified to observe that deinstitutionalization or the process of replacing long-stay psychiatric hospitals with community mental health services often led to many mentally ill being placed in prison or put out on the streets rather than being properly cared for.
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In November 2005, Morton Birnbaum died of a stroke in Brooklyn at the age of 79, survived by his wife Judith and children: Julius, Jacob, Belinda, Rebeca, and David.