Requiring case management meetings to be conducted outside the clinic

In this Open Forum a psychiatric health care consumer recounts his experience with his state's requirement to hold case management meetings outside of the clinic. Over time, the author found that meeting elsewhere amounted to being put on public display, and he felt embarrassed and powerless to change the situation. Requiring people with psychiatric disorders to meet outside a clinical setting may violate the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and human rights. This New Hampshire state policy needs to be changed because it undermines treatment and reinforces the stigma that many consumers already feel because of their disability.