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Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Volume 39, Number 14, 5 July 1976.
Procedures and the Mental Health Act
Procedures and the Mental Health Act
The Mental Health Act sets up a 2-step procedure:
| (1) | The original reception. The police contact the hospital superintendent, who has power under $ 19 to detain any person "alleged to be mentally disordered", for up to 3 weeks, "in the public interest before a reception order can be obtained". The allegation is in the form of a signed request, by "any person", to the superintendent, backed by two medical certificates. This allows the person picked up by the police to be received into Porirua Hospital and given "care and treatment" - including shock treatment and assorted tranquillizing drugs - without her consent and in this case despite her opposition. There is nothing s/he can legally do to terminate the detention and treatment during these 3 weeks. |
| (2) | Formal reception order under $ 20. Within 21 days, the superintendent must notify the local Magistrates Court of the patient's reception in the hospital. This is the first time the medical authorities have to front up to any legal institution. The magistrate will now come out to Porirua (usually the Thursday following notification) and conduct an inquiry into whether the "patient" really is "mentally disordered" according to the definition in the Act. The odds are loaded against "the person" (actually s/he's called a "person" only in $ 19 - by $ 20 s/he's become "the patient" - an indication of what chance s/he's got of leaving?). The magistrate talks to the superintendent and doctor, "examines" the patient, and can accept as medical certificates those given over 3 weeks earlier in the police station. If he makes the reception order, "the patient" can be kept indefinitely, until the doctors say s/he's "well" enough to leave. |