ABSTRACT
In May 1975, a few weeks after the three-year-long Willowbrook court case ended, Bruce Ennis, the lead attorney for the 5,400 retarded residents, sent a copy of the consent judgment. The post-Progressive reformers seemed to differ on almost every count. Attorneys now dominated the ranks, determined to uphold clients’ rights before the courts. By hospital policy, patients were allowed to remain at Mount Sinai no more than ninety days. During this time the psychiatrists attempted to stabilize them by establishing drug regimens to alleviate symptoms. The task was near impossible because so few options existed. Many families were reluctant to take patients back home, even if the initial symptoms had abated, for fear that they could not cope with the demands of care. Provisions did exist for bringing homemakers to the mentally disabled, but city welfare workers, unwilling to spend three days on the necessary paperwork, had various strategies for avoiding requests from hospital social workers.
