The monograph outlines key issues in the area of patients' rights and advocacy as they relate to Hispanic mental health clients or patients. Providing background material on patients' rights and advocacy in general, the first section includes a chronological history of major litigation, a discussion of patient advocacy, a discussion of a client's right to refuse treatment, and a legal perspective of patients' rights and advocacy. Focusing on patients' rights and advocacy for Mexican Americans in Texas, the second section includes a statement from the Commissioner of the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation regarding systemic concerns and a discussion of the citizen's or consumer's point of view. A 1981 workshop on Hispanic patients' rights and advocacy is summarized. Interviews with 15 Hispanic therapists in Texas provide a perspective of the Mexican American service provider regarding the patients' rights movement's impact on Mexican American clients and identify issues arising from the uniqueness of the Mexican American experience in treatment. The concluding article delineates several assumptions predominating in mental health service delivery systems and in the patients' rights and advocacy movement that may be limiting the development of an Hispanic initiative. Appendices include academic and litigation references on patients' rights and advocacy. (Author/NQA)