Human Rights for Mental Ill

HUMAN RIGHTS
FOR
MENTALLY ILL
Presented By:
MR. DEEPAK SUWALKA
Assistant Professor,
Mental Health Nursing

INTRODUCTION
All persons with a mental illness, or who are
being treated as such persons, shall be
treated with humanity and respect for the
inherent dignity of the human person...There
shall be no discrimination on the grounds of
mental illness..."

CONT
..
All Human rights organizations set forth codes by
which they align their purposes and activities .
The mental health declaration of human rights
articulates the guiding pricples of CCHR (citizen
communication of human rights ) and the standard
aginst which human rights violations by
psychaitry are relentlessly investigated and
exposed .

MENT
AL HEAL
TH:-
•MENTAL HEALTH IS A STATE OF WELL-
BEING IN WHICH THE INDIVIDUAL
REALIZES HIS OR HER OWN ABILITIES,
CAN COPE WITH THE NORMAL STRESSES
OF LIFE, CAN WORK PRODUCTIVELY
AND FRUITFULLY AND IS ABLE TO MAKE
A CONTRIBUTION TO HIS OR HER

MENT
AL ILLNESS:-
Mental illness is a recognized, medically diagnosable
illness that results in the significant impairment of an
individual’s cognitive, affective or relational abilities.
Mental disorders result from biological, developmental
and/or psychosocial factors and can be managed using
approaches comparable to those applied to physical
disease (i.e., prevention, diagnosis, treatment and
rehabilitation)

HUMAN RIGHTS :-
•THE SIMPLEST WAY DEFINING HUMAN
RIGHTS IS THAT THEY ARE ABOUT
BALANCING THE INALIENABLE RIGHTS OF
ALL OF US AS HUMAN BEING WITHIN THE
COMMUNITY REGARDLESS DEFFERENCES IN
BIRTH ,SOCIAL ORIGIN,GENDER ,PHYSCIAL
DEFFERENCES ,FAITH AND BELIEF ,IDEOLOGY
,NATIONALITY AND SO ON.

THE PSYCHIATRIC PATIENTS CURRENTLY HAVE THE FOLLOWING RIGHTS:-
 Right to communicate with people outside the hospital
through correspondence, telephone and personal visits.
 Right to wear clothing and personal effects with them
in the hospital.
 Right to religious freedom.
 Right to be employed if possible.
 Right to manage and dispose of property.
 Right to execute bills.
 Right to enter into contractual relationships.

 RIGHT TO EDUCATION
 RIGHT TO HABEAS CORPUS
 RIGHT TO INDEPENDENT PSYCHIATRIC
EXAMINATION
 RIGHT TO CIVIL SERVICE STATUS
 RIGHT TO RETAIN LICENCES, PRIVILEGES, OR
PERMITS ESTABLISHED BY LAW, SUCH ASA
DRIVER’S OR PROFESSIONAL LICENCE
 RIGHT TO SUE OR BE SUED
 RIGHT TO MARRY AND DIVORCE
 RIGHT TO MAKE PURCHASE

 Right not to be subject to unnecessary mechanical
restraints
 Right to periodic review of status
 Right to legal representation
 Right to informed consent
 Right to privacy
 Right to refuse treatment
 Right to treatment in the least restrictive setting

CONT...
Some of these rights deserve a more thorough discussion :-
🞭 Right to Communicate With People Outside the Hospital :
This right allows patient to visit and hold telephone conversations
in privacy and send unopened letters to anyone of their choice,
including judges, lawyers, families, and staff. Although the patient
has the right to communicate in anuncensored manner, the staff
may limit access to the telephone or visitors when it could harm
the patient or be a source of harassment for the staff. The
hospital also can limit the times when telephone calls are made
and received and when visitors can enter the facility.

CONT...
🞭 Right to Keep Personal Effects:-
The patient may bring clothing and personal items to the
hospital, taking into consideration the amount of storage
space available. The hospital is not responsible for their
safety, and valuable items should be left at home. If the
patient brings something of value to the hospital, the staff
should place it in the hospital safe or otherwise provide for
maintaining a safe environment and should take dangerous
objects away from the patient if necessary.

CONT...
🞭 Right To Enter Into Contractual Relationships:-
The court considers contracts valid if the person understands the
circumstances of the contract and its consequences. Once again, a
psychiatric illness does not invalidate a contract, although the nature
of the contract and degree of judgement needed to understand it are
influencing factors.

CONT...
🞭 Right to education:-
Many patient exercise the right to education on behalf of their
emotionally ill or mentally retarded children. The U.S. Constitution
guarantees this right to everyone, although many states have not
provided adequate education to all citizens in the past and are now
required to do so.

CONT...
🞭 Right to Habeas Corpus:-
Habeas corpus is an important constitutional right patients retain in all
states even if they have been involuntarily hospitalized. It provides for
the speedy release of any person who claims to be detained illegally.
A committed patient may file a writ at any time on the grounds of
being sane and eligible for release. The hearing takes place in court,
where those who wish to restrain the patient must defend their
actions. Patients are discharged if they are judged to be sane.

CONT...
🞭 Right to privacy :-
The right to privacy implies the person’s right to keep some personal
information completely secret or confidential. Confidentiality involves
the nondisclosure of specific information about a person to someone
else unless authorized by that person. Every psychiatric professional
is responsible is responsible for protecting a patient’s right to
confidentiality, including even the knowledge that a person is in
treatment or in a hospital. Revealing such information might result in
damage to the patient. The protection of the law applies to all
patients.

CONT...
🞭 Right to informed consent:-
The goal of informed consent is to help patients make better
decisions. Informed consent means that a clinician must give the
patient a certain amount of information about the proposed treatment
and must attain the patient’s consent, which must be informed
,competent and voluntary.
Information to be Disclose in Obtaining Informed Consent
Diagnosis : Description of the patient’s problem
Treatment: Nature and purpose of the proposed treatment

CONT...
Consequences: Risks and benefits of the proposed treatment
including physical and psychological effects, costs, and potential
resulting problems
Alternatives: Viable alternatives to the proposed treatment and their
risks and benefits
Prognosis : Expected outcomes with treatment, with alternative
treatments, and without treatment.

🞭 Right to treatment :-
Early court cases extended the right to treatment to all mentally
ill and mentally retarded people who were involuntarily
hospitalized.
The courts defined three criteria for adequate treatment :
1. A humane psychological and the physical environment
2. A qualified staff with a sufficient number of members to
administer adequate treatment
3. Individualized treatment plans

• 🞭 RIGHT TO REFUSE TREATMENT :-
•THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RIGHT TO TREATMENT
AND RIGHT TO REFUSE TREATMENT IS COMPLEX.
•THE RIGHT TO REFUSE TREATMENT INCLUDES THE
RIGHT TO REFUSE INVOLUNTARY HOSPITALIZATION.
IT HAS BEEN CALLED THE RIGHT TO LEFT ALONE .
•THE INVOLUNTARY THERAPY CONFLICTS WITH TWO
BASIC LEGAL RIGHTS: FREEDOM OF THOUGHT AND
THE RIGHT TO CONTROL ONE’S LIFE AND ACTIONS
AS LONG AS THEY DO NOT INTERFERE WITH THE
RIGHTS OF OTHERS.

🞭 Right to Treatment in the Least Restrictive Setting :-
 The right to treatment in the least restrictive setting is closely
related to the right to adequate treatment.
 Its goal is evaluating the needs of each patient and maintaining
the greatest amount of personal freedom, autonomy, dignity, and
integrity in determining treatment.
 This right applies to both hospital-based and community programs.
 Another consideration in the least restrictive alternative is that it
applies not only to when a person should be hospitalized but also
to how a person is cared for.
 It requires that a patient’s progress be carefully monitored so that
treatment plans are changed based on the patient’s current
condition.

LEGALASPECTS:-
Legal aspects of mentally ill :
 Civil commitment
 Competence and informed consent to treatment
 Confidentiality and the coordination of care
 Right to treatment in the Hospital and community
 Recommnedations

ROLE OF NURSE IN PATIENT’S RIGHTS:
The National League for Nursing (1977) issued a statement on the
nurse’s role inpatient’s rights. The league urged nurses to get involved in
ensuring patient’s human and legal rights .
The league identified many of the previously mentioned following
rights :
 Right to health care that is accessible and
meets professional standards , regardless of the setting
 Right to courteous and individualized health care that is equitable,
human , and given without discrimination based on race, colour, creed,
sex, national origin, source of payment, or ethical or political beliefs
 Right to information about their diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment ,
including alternatives to care and risks involved

CONT...
 Right to information about the qualifications, names, and
titles of healthcare personnel
 Right to refuse observation by those
not directly involved in their care
 Right to coordination and continuity of health care
 Right to information on the charges for services, including the
rights to challenge these charges
 Above all, the right to be fully informed about all their rights in
all health care settings.

Human Rights for Mental Ill

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