Symposium: Mental Health Law Differences and Coercive Measures Over Four Countries

Abstract

In 2008, the UNHCR issued a convention on the rights of persons with disability. Since then, many countries were visited by the High Commissioner for Human Rights. In a number of countries, for example Germany and the Netherlands, mental health legislation was considered unsatisfactory and either regional variations in procedures or new legislation was drafted. In Germany, the final decision after different admission procedures is always made by a judge. In the Netherlands, detention on mental health ground with involuntary admission is decided by a Governmental administrator working for the local Major. In England and Wales, it is decided by three medical/psychiatric professionals. Currently, the Netherlands is drafting a law following the main principles of the Anglo-Saxon law. In Germany, all federal states are currently adopting their mental health laws to fulfil requirements of the Constitutional Court, which decided that coercive treatment is only admissible under very strict conditions after a judge's decision. Studies show the Dutch legislation is associated with higher seclusion rates, in numbers, and duration. Moreover, recent German findings show in a recent period when involuntary medication was not admissible, inpatient violence and coercive measures increased significantly. In this symposium, we discuss the several laws and regulations of four countries (Wales, Ireland, Germany, Netherlands), now and in the near future. Each presentation of a certain countries’ regulations is followed by a description of standard figures of the country, first by an expert in the respective country's law, and consequently by an expert in nationwide or regional figures.

Disclosure of interest

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.