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Human rights in mental health

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 August 2010

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Summary

Some years ago there was an action brought against a medical man for allegedly signing an order for the detention of a patient, and since then a great many medical men have refused to sign orders for admission into an asylum. It appears to me that there should be some relief to medical men … that you must prove malice before you can punish for any action of that sort.

(Sir Trevor Lawrence, 1877)

The opinion of any medical practitioner shall not be admissible as evidence of the insanity of a person.

(An amendment tabled to the Lunacy Regulations Bill 1845 by Montague Smith, MP)

The relativistic nature of human rights in mental health

Both lawyers and psychiatrists have traditionally presumed that their approach to mental health is in the person's interests (Gostin, 1983(2, b). In any discussion of the ‘human rights’ of mentally disordered people it is important to examine the term. A human right is no more than an entitlement due – legally or morally – to a human being. If we construe the term to mean a statutory right, it takes us no further, for it is one which government can choose whether or not to legislate for a particular group. A statutory right has no constancy and will deviate over time and across national boundaries. To most of us a human right suggests some permanence: for example, the right not to use medicine for political purposes.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1985

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