Op-Ed Contributors

Debate: Mentally ill patients

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-05-04 07:58

Si Shaohan: A good example for the nation to emulate

Germany allows all its provinces to enact detailed rules on mentally challenged offenders, which is worth emulating.

Take the Law of Accommodation and Treatment of Psychiatric Patient in Bayern as an example. It says mentally challenged people admitted to hospitals should be treated as patients with minimal restrictions on personal freedom. Special accommodation and guardianship have to be offered to children and adolescents according to the degree of their psychiatric disorder and chances of mental development.

Even after the intellectually challenged offenders are released from hospitals, psychiatrists and trained personnel have to help them recover fully. And it is important that provincial and local health bureaus, mental hospitals, physicians, social workers and other social organizations work together to help the patients.

Besides, the inmates have the right to demand necessary medical care. On the other hand, they have to endure the necessary medical and psychiatric treatment to cure their mental illness, which is a prerogative to maintain safety and order in hospitals. To achieve this, medical institutions can use suitable mandatory therapies on the inmates.

But a medical institution has to get the patient's approval if a medical restriction or specific treatment has the potential to harm him/her or change his/her personality. If the inmates cannot decide, the medical institution has to get the approval of their guardians or relatives before proceeding with the treatment.

German law says inmates can be granted permission to regular visits. But if such visits pose a risk to an institution's safety or could disturb its order or threaten its inmates' health, the medical institution has the right to refuse visits, inspect visitors and supervise their meetings.

The inmates have the right to receive letters, packages and photographs, and make telephone calls. Their correspondence with their attorneys, notaries, federal and state representative bodies, the European Commission of Human Rights, is exempt from censoring. The same applies to foreign inmates' correspondence with their diplomatic or consular representatives.

Medical institution authorities, however, have the right to censor other letters, for it could help in treatment or help maintain public security. The institutions can ask the patients to stop their correspondence if they fear that it would have negative influence on their health. Mentally challenged patients, their spouses, legal representatives for private affairs or mandatory lawyers can apply for leave for them. All this have to be made known to the court, law enforcement agency, the inmates and all their qualified applicants.

If it is necessary for the patients to go out of the institution for treatment or recovery, they or their qualified guardians or representatives can apply for it. The inmates, however, have to be accompanied by qualified personnel when they stay outside to ensure that they do not disturb law and order.

The German authorities have set up an independent lawful committee to guarantee inmates' rights. A judge or senior administrative staff should be in charge of the committee, whose members include a psychiatrist, a judge familiar with cases of psychiatric patients, and a social worker experienced in nursing mentally ill people.

The committee should inspect these medical institutions at least every two years without previous notice. After a visit to the institutions, the committee should submit an investigation report to the Minister of Interior, and deal with the suggestions and complaints filed by the patients and advance reasonable suggestions for improvement.

The author is an assistant researcher at the Crime

Prevention Institute under the Ministry of Justice.

(China Daily 05/04/2010 page9)