Geriatric Psychiatry and the Law

As President of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law (AAPL), it is my pleasure to provide this Foreword for the third volume of Critical Issues in American Psychiatry and the Law. Through Dr. Richard Rosners creativity and effort, the first volume of the series was pub- lished in 1982. It represented the first major publishing activity of the AAPL other than the Bulletin and the Newsletter. Dr. Rosner carefully nurtured the project and the second volume, once again addressing a broad range of forensic issues, was published in 1985. The appearance of the third volume brings two major changes to the series. Dr. Rosner shares editorship of this volume with Harold I. Schwartz, and this is the first of the series to be devoted entirely to one area in forensic psychiatry, the elderly. This is a priority subject. As the baby boom ages and technology for extending life increases, the profile of our population is maturing. The aging of the nation brings with it problems of chronic care, the dementias, the fear of prolonging dying rather than extending meaningful life, the social question of increasing health care costs, and the medical and human question of legal and ethical protection of the elderly patient. This volume could not be more timely. As Bernice Neugarten has pointed out, we must avoid stereotyping the elderly.l Many individuals bring to older age a rich repertoire of interests, abilities, and insights. Among the elderly are the young-old.