Mental health law - Peter Bartlett

The care of people with psychiatric difficulties is changing. Where long stay asylums used to be the staple of the mental health system, the political focus has now shifted to care in the community and a breaking down both symbolically and physically of the high walls of the psychiatric hospital. This transition has not been without its problems as is highlighted by various high profile cases in the media. The law is also now changing with a new Mental Health Bill published in 2002,which proposes to completely re-write the current system of mental health law. There are also proposals to extend the legal controls over persons with severe personality disorders who are perceived as dangerous. For some, there are sinister connotations to the extension of the state's power ofsocial control over problematic citizens. Yet the new legislation also promises greater protection of the human rights of patients. Running parallel to these reforms is the implementation of the Human Rights Act 1998, which continues to have significant effects on mental health law. In this text Peter Bartlett and Ralph Sandland examine the legal structure and functioning of the mental health system. Specific topics include problems of characterisation of mental health law, admission to anddischarge from psychiatric facilities, treatment both in hospital and in the community, regulation of care in the community, criminal justice and mental disorder, understanding mental capacity, and advocacy for patients.