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You and the Law
If you are considered a danger to yourself, or to other people, you
can be detained against your will on a Section according to the Mental
Health Act 1989.
This does not mean that you will always be detained against your will. In
the UK, you are unlikely to be detained if you are considered to be
thinking and acting in a calm and rational manner.
Different Sections are for different lengths of time and have different
requirements. We will briefly describe the most common, and recommend that
you look up the Mental Health Act should you require further information.
MIND have some very useful legal documents listed on their website, http://www.mind.org.uk/Information/Legal/index.htm
Section 4
-
Application by
Approved Social Worker or nearest relative (applicant must have seen
the patient in the last 24hrs)
-
One doctor must
confirm that there is urgent necessity for the patient to be detained
under Section 2 (see below) and that waiting for a second doctor would
delay too long.
-
Detained for 72 hours
maximum
Section 2
-
Application by
Approved Social Worker or nearest relative (applicant must have seen
the patient within the last 14 days)
-
Two doctors must
confirm that the patient is suffering from a mental disorder that
warrants detention in hospital for assessment and that the patient
should be detained in the interests of their own safety or the safety
of others.
-
Detained for 28 days
maximum.
Section 136
-
Police officers can
detain a person in a safe place (usually a hospital) if the person is
found in a public place and is deemed by the police officer to be
suffering from mental disorder and is in immediate need of care and
control.
-
Detained for 72 hours
maximum.
Section 135
-
Police officers can be
given a warrant to enter premises and remove a person to a safe place
(usually a hospital) if there is reasonable cause to suspect that the
person is suffering mental disorder and is either being mistreated, or
cannot care for themselves properly.
-
Detained for 72 hours
maximum.
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