This website is intended for healthcare professionals
This website is intended for healthcare professionals
Under section 136A of the Mental Health Act 1983 the use of a police station as a place of safety for those under 18 years is forbidden.
‘The right to determine what shall be done with one's own body is a fundamental right in our society. The concepts inherent in this right are the bedrock upon which the principles of...
Nervous shock used to be the term used to describe psychiatric harm that arose as result of another's negligent action. It is now more accurate to refer to such harm as a psychiatric injury, but the...
‘Although Mr C's general capacity was impaired by schizophrenia, it had not been established that he does not sufficiently understand the nature, purpose and effects of the treatment he refuses....
Section 117 of the Mental Health Act 1983 gives people who have been detained for treatment under the Act the right to aftercare on discharge from hospital (R v Ealing District Health Authority Ex p...
‘Keep to all relevant laws about mental capacity that apply in the country in which you are practising, and make sure that the rights and best interests of those who lack capacity are still at the...
The Crime (Sentences) Act 1997 introduced hospital and limitation directions into the Mental Health Act 1983. Section 45A of the Mental Health Act 1983 allows the Crown Court to issue a hospital...
When a person with a mental disorder is prosecuted it is open to them to argue that they are not guilty by reason of insanity. This legal defence is available at common law to any criminal charge. For...
The law recognises that adults have a right to determine what will be done to their bodies (Re MB (Caesarean Section) [1997]). Touching a person without consent will amount to a civil trespass to the...
Nurses' exposure to multiple jeopardy is founded on the multifaceted nature of the duty they owe to their patients and the nature of their accountability. Accountability underpins the professionalism,...
‘Grant to any patient who is for the time being liable to be detained in a hospital under this Part of this Act leave to be absent from the hospital subject to such conditions (if any) as that...
‘The consent of a patient shall not be required for any medical treatment given to him for the mental disorder from which he is suffering, [not being a form of treatment to which safeguards apply],...
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