Is this a ‘Dangerous’ ‘Health Act’?
For the best part of 25 years this patient has been detained in secure facilities under a ‘Mental Health Act section’.
Now this patient who has an intellectual disability will tell his story to the public.
So ‘what is Mental Health Act’?
1. The Mental Health Act 1983 primarily deals with the detention in hospital of people with mental disorders, as well as other compulsory measures including guardianship and supervised community treatment. It sets out the criteria that must be met before compulsory measures can be taken, along with protections and safeguards for patients.
2. The Mental Health Act 2007 received Royal Assent on 19 July 2007. It made a number of amendments to the Mental Health Act 1983. It also extended the rights of victims by amending the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004 and amended the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005 to introduce new deprivation of liberty safeguards.
The patient walks into the room looking nervous. He furtively glances at the ring of chairs in front but only sits down once permission has been given. He’s not used to being able to make his own decisions and he rarely gets an opportunity to meet strangers.
Next week he will appear in central London for the first ever mental health tribunal to be held in public after his lawyers won a lengthy court battle to give him that right.
The offence that landed the 52-year-old behind bars bears none of the brutality that characterised many of his Broadmoor neighbours’ crimes, though it would undoubtedly have been highly traumatic for his victims.
In May 1986 he walked into a hospital carrying a small knife and a machete, threatened staff before giving himself up. No one was physically hurt and later that summer he pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted wounding. He has not seen the outside world since.
Would you still class this man as dangerous?
The power to release this man rests with a mental health tribunal. Normally the workings of these tribunals are held entirely behind closed doors, the secretive system that has the unenviable task of deciding whether someone should continue to be sectioned.
This offers a rare window into one of Britain’s most secretive legal processes. It also sets an important precedent in the closed world of mental health tribunals.
Apparently the right to an open hearing is not likely to happen often. Of the 100,000 mental health tribunals that have taken place over the last 7 years, just 10 patients have applied for public access including this single successful request.
But the numbers are not the point. The principle is. It is an option that should be available to all?
Source: Independent.
European Convention on Human Rights (re-enforced by Article 13 of the CRPD) requires that a patient should have the same or substantially equivalent right of access to a public hearing as a non-disabled person who has been deprived of his or her liberty, if this article 6 right to a public hearing is to be given proper effect. Such a right can only be denied a patient if enabling that right imposes a truly disproportionate burden on the state.
The Mental Disability Advocacy Center (MDAC) provided the Upper Tribunal with a report on laws and practices in European jurisdictions as well as laws in Australia, Canada and the United States. In this report, MDAC also mentions the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), in particular Article 13 ensuring people with disabilities access to justice on an equal basis with others.
Source: E-Include.
According to the HM Courts and Tribunals Service the application by Mr.X for discharge from liability to detention in hospital will be heard in public by the First-tier Tribunal (MentalHealth) on 27th and 28th September 2011 at 10.30am at Field House 15 – 25 Breams Buildings, London EC4A 1DZ.
Let me know your views
