Each year, Washington sends thousands of residents to forced treatment at psychiatric facilities.

They’re taken from their homes and locked in sterile, sparsely furnished rooms. They’re often compelled to take powerful medications. And they can’t leave until a judge says so.

The state sends people off for this type of treatment, not on criminal charges but under the state’s Involuntary Treatment Act — a set of laws meant to treat people who are so mentally ill they’re deemed dangerous to themselves or others.

The system was developed not to punish people, but to provide vital care to those in dire need of treatment. Even as many lawmakers and medical professionals view it as a necessary avenue for mental health care, it raises ethical questions about when it’s acceptable to strip someon

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