BMJ 1994;308:1571-1572 (11 June)

Letters

Mental health law

EDITOR, - Responding to my paper on mental health law,1 the National Schizophrenia Fellowship writes2 that it supports supervised discharge orders.3 The form that such orders might take, however, has now been called into question by the recommendation by the Clunis inquiry that, within the order, "if the responsible medical officer considers that the patient has failed to comply with the plan, or that the patient's mental health is deteriorating, the patient may be recalled to hospital."4 The Department of Health's original version of the order would allow only for urgent case review with a view to re-sectioning under the Mental Health Act if the patient was deemed detainable. Hence, in terms of coercion of the patient the Clunis inquiry's recommendation goes further than both the department's proposal and the community supervision order recommended by the Royal College of Psychiatrists5 by contructing what amounts to conditional discharge. If enacted in . . . [Full text of this article]


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Relevant Article

Mental health law: civil liberties and the principle of reciprocity
N Eastman
BMJ 1994 308: 43. [Extract] [Full Text]

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