Citation

Doucin PM. J. Med. Leg. Droit Med. 2018; 61(4): 48-52.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Masson)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

As psychiatric disorders are often accompanied by the patient's refusal to acknowledge their pathology and to follow treatments which nevertheless prove to be more and more efficient, the issue of the limits of the freedom to seek treatment arises for this category of patients. Not accepting care is in fact putting oneself at risk of often having outbreaks with a possible irreversible worsening of the illness, with proven suicidal effects. Should carers and patients' families remain passive and respect the 'person's will' when it is not certain that it is 'informed' or even real, since denial often has its source in the inhibition of certain localised connections in the brain? The author argues for the principle of freedom to seek treatment to be debated and overridden within the framework of multidisciplinary ethics committees which include representatives of the patients and their families both in psychiatric hospitals and in penitentiary establishments. The latter receive a considerable proportion of individuals with psychiatric disorders. © 2018, Editions Alexandre Lacassagne. All rights reserved.

Language: fr

Keywords

human; Suicide; prison; medical ethics; mental disease; mental health care; informed consent; mental hospital; professional standard; Psychiatric disorders; Denial; Article; Prison psychiatry; patient autonomy; Ethics committees; Consent to care; Freedom to seek treatment; Obligation of care; Psychiatric care without consent; Psychiatric hospitals