UK ruling could lead to review of psychiatric cases

In the ruling, reports The Independent, the Strasbourg judges said the detention under common law of a man with autism was a breach of human rights. The man was detained at a Surrey hospital in 1997 after he was deemed incapable of consenting to treatment. He had no right to appeal, unlike if he had been sectioned under the Mental Health Act, where an appeal for release may be made to a tribunal. The judges said legal safeguards protecting people who do not understand why they are detained for treatment were insufficient. The common law allows one doctor to recommend detention of patients incapable of consenting to treatment if it is in their best interests. But no such entitlement exists for the thousands of people admitted to hospitals and nursing homes under common law for conditions such as dementia and learning disabilities. The ruling would mean a second doctor and a specialist social worker would have to approve a patient\'s detention. Full report in The Independent