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The absconder and the Hospital Order

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Adersh Kaul  and
Maggie Whittaker
Adersh Kaul
Affiliation:
Towers Hospital, Leicester LE5 OTD
Maggie Whittaker
Affiliation:
Broadmoor Hospital, Crowthorne, Berkshire RG11 7EG
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The Mental Health Services have been accused of providing a ‘soft option’ to offenders and this charge is highlighted in cases where the mentally disordered offender absconds (hereafter called the absconder) from the hospital. Society just about manages to accept the disposal of disturbed offenders to hospital, which it sees as providing at least some limited incarceration, but in the event of an offender absconding the whole dilemma of offenders considered to be in need of treatment is thrown into question. The Responsible Medical Officer (RMO) is concerned with issues of treatment, public safety and his/her responsibility to the Courts and society; and thus finds himself/herself in the conflicting roles of a doctor and an agent of social control. This paper attempts to address some of the issues surrounding the areas of the rights of the patient, the dilemma faced by the clinicians and the rightful use of the powers of the doctor and of the State in relation to Hospital Order and the absconder.

Type
Articles
Information
Psychiatric Bulletin , Volume 14 , Issue 3 , March 1990 , pp. 154 - 156
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1989

References

Bluglass, R. (1983) A Guide to the Mental Health Act 1983. London: Churchill Livingstone.Google Scholar
Butler, Lord R. A. (Chairman) (1975) Report of the Committee on Mentally Abnormal Offenders, Cmnd 6244. London: HMSO.Google Scholar
Department of Health and Social Security (1978) Review of the Mental Health Act 1959, Cmnd 7320. London: HMSO.Google Scholar
Mental Health Act (1983) London: HMSO.Google Scholar
Potas, I. (1982) Just Desserts for the Mad. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology.Google Scholar
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