An Analysis of Gendered Conservatorship Abuse within the United States Legal System

The research conducted in this paper aims to explores the use of conservatorships as a legal tool to medically control women through labeling and the stigmatizations of what being an individual under conservatorships means to those within the United States: being gravely disabled to an extend where self-management isn’t possible. An inductive qualitative content analysis was conducted on the likelihood of United States adult conservatorship court cases and if these cases may perpetuate conservatorship abuse of women conservatees through medical control. Looking at 649 court case documents on the electronic data website Nexis Uni, 98 court case documents were collected, with a focus on results for the terms “sterilization”, “IUD”, “5150 hold”, “birth control”, and “psychotropic medication”. The results of this study revealed several recurring thematic patterns in conservatorship cases involving adult women in the United States. Key findings include: (1) Limited Discussion of Alternatives, where courts often neglected to discuss less restrictive options like supported decision-making among other options; (2) Psychiatric Label Misuse, where mental illnesses and disorders were described using stigmatizing and prejudicial language to justify conservatorships; (3) Medical Paternalism, where conservatees’ healthcare preferences were overridden, particularly regarding medication and sterilization; (4) Differential Credibility Assessment, with conservatees’ testimonies frequently dismissed in favor of medical professionals and conservators; and (5) Labeled Promiscuity, where conservatees’ behavior, regardless of if it was sexual in nature or not, was used to justify control, especially in sterilization cases. The findings suggest not only the lifetime stigmatization that individuals who have been under conservatorships face but also negative labeling used by the court to justify the legal control they have over conservatees.