Topic

Author/Academic

Viewpoint

Source

Law, liberty and psychiatry: an inquiry into the social use of mental health practices.

T Szasz

Szasz argues that since there are no special laws for patients with physical illness, why should there be special laws for patients with mental disorders? He argues that mental illness is a metaphor for people that society does not accept because their personal conduct violates ethical, political and social norms.

T S Szasz, Law, Liberty and Psychiatry: An Inquiry into the Social use of Mental Health

Practices (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1974)

Sex offenders, consent to treatment and the politics of risk

P Fennell

Fennel suggests that sex offences are often perceived as consequences of mental disorders. Current treatment includes surgical and chemical castration, hormone injections and psychological therapies. Although consent is used to legitimise interventions such as these its validity might be questioned since consent may have been given to avoid indefinite detention in hospital or prison.

K Harrison, B Rainey, The Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of Legal and Ethical Aspects of

Sex Offender Treatment and Management(Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2013)

Mental capacity at the margin: the interface between two Acts

G Richardson

Richardson argues that the procedure for compulsory detention under the MHA 1983 and procedures under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 have created a confusing interface which has to be negotiated carefully on behalf of vulnerable people. In Richardson's view the stringent DoLS procedures lack principled justification and leaves compliant, non-objecting, patients in an entirely vulnerable position.

Med L Rev 2010; 18(1): 56-77

A matter of necessity? Enforced treatment under the Mental Health Act

P Bartlett

The author criticises enforced treatment under the MHA 1983 and the way it is given without consent. He argues that such enforced interventions, particularly in uncertain circumstances, should be approached with particular caution.

Med L Rev 2007; 15: 86-98