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Consent to Treatment
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- "Informal" patients cannot be treated for a psychiatric disorder without informed consent.
- Patients detained under Sections 4, 5(2), 135, 136 (72 hour sections) and guardianship cannot be treated without informed consent.
- Patients detained under Sections 2, 3, and 37 may be given some treatments without consent under the following conditions:
General treatments
There are no conditions applied here. Nursing care, occupational therapy etc. must be given to any of the specified detained patients without consent.
Medication and ECT
Consent or a second opinion (Section 58) are required. To be given ECT or prolonged medication, i.e. for more than 3 months, either the patient must give consent certified valid by the consultant (remember their wish to leave hospital is considered invalid!) or agreement to the treatment plan must be obtained from a doctor appointed by the Mental Health Act Commission.
Urgent treatment
If urgent, a course of ECT may be started with a detained patient while waiting for the second opinion (Section 62) .
Psychosurgery and hormone implants
Consent and a second opinion (Section 57) are required. For these treatments the second opinion appointed doctor must agree with the plan and the patient must give consent which is considered valid by a three person panel.
Consent to general medical treatment
The MHA applies only to treatment of mental disorder and cannot be used in treatment of physical conditions. Unconscious patients are treated under authority of Common Law which recognises a duty to save life etc. (Doctrine of Necessity). Restraint of a potentially violent or suicidal informal patient, whether in a general medical or a psychiatric ward, would be justified on the same basis.
mental health act commission (mhac) and patients' rights...>>
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