INTRODUCTION Wyatt v. Stickney (1) is the most important institutional rights case litigated in the history of domestic mental disability law. (2) It spawned copycat litigation in multiple federal district courts and state superior courts; (3) it led directly to the creation of Patients' Bills of Rights in most states; (4) and it inspired the creation of the Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act, (5) the Mental Health Systems Act Bill of Rights, (6) and the federally-funded Protection and Advocacy System. (7) Its direct influence on the development of the right-to-treatment doctrine abated after the Supreme Court's disinclination, in its 1982 decision in Youngberg v. Romeo, (8) to find that right to be constitutionally mandated, but its historic role as a beacon and inspiration has never truly faded. It has been cited (at least) an astounding 411 times in domestic law journals. (9)
