ABSTRACT
According to the ideal of the rehabilitation philosophy, the best placement for a patient when he leaves rehab is his own home and an environment which enables him to live his former life as nearly as possible. In a mental hospital, the staff wants to be fairly sure that the patient will not commit any obviously harmful acts against himself or others before releasing him. In the case of rehab, the conservative approach also means that when there is doubt about whether a patient can manage under a greater or a lesser degree of custody, the doubt is resolved in the direction of the greater degree. There are several "degrees of custody." Most patients are, after all, sent to Farewell for "custodial care." Those who are transferred to a nursing home or an old-age home perhaps continue in just about as great a degree of custody, only in a different place.
