Medicalization and Demedicalization — A Gravely Disabled Homeless Man with Psychiatric Illness

Braslow, Joel T. M.D., Ph.D.
Messac, Luke M.D., Ph.D.

From the University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles (J.T.B.); and Brown University, Providence, RI (L.M.).

Disclosure forms provided by the authors are available at NEJM.org.

The editors of the Case Studies in Social Medicine are Scott D. Stonington, M.D., Ph.D., Seth M. Holmes, Ph.D., M.D., Helena Hansen, M.D., Ph.D., Jeremy A. Greene, M.D., Ph.D., Keith A. Wailoo, Ph.D., Debra Malina, Ph.D., Stephen Morrissey, Ph.D., Paul E. Farmer, M.D., Ph.D., and Michael G. Marmot, M.B., B.S., Ph.D.

The patient's initial and some identifying characteristics have been changed to protect his privacy.

New England Journal of Medicine 379(20):p 1885-1888, November 15, 2018. | DOI: 10.1056/NEJMp1811623