Fiji's Mental Treatment Act 1940 had become outdated, in part because it concentrated on treatment within a psychiatric hospital. The Mental Health Decree 2010 covers not only in-patient treatment but also the promotion of mental health, the prevention of mental illness, and the community-based and rehabilitative aspects of mental healthcare, as well as human rights issues.
See Full PDF See Full PDFMental health law in Algeria originates from the French colonial era. Although several pieces of legislation deal with mental disorders, their implementation remains unsatisfactory and does not meet the real needs of healthcare providers. Amendment of the current mental health law is required to enhance the delivery of care but also to protect those with a mental disorder from abuse.
Download Free PDF View PDF
This paper evaluates the success of treatment reviews as a protection for patients’ rights. Unlike reviews of admission and detention, there are no internationally agreed standards for reviews of treatment decisions. Accordingly, the paper draws on the law of three jurisdictions, England and Wales, Victoria (Australia) and Ireland, to study review models in practice. The paper develops a normative argument regarding what should be expected from treatment reviews when viewed from a human rights perspective and then measures the three different models which these jursidctions offer (judicial review; tribunal review and professional review) against this standard, concluding that all of the models, as currently operated, are flawed but that tribunal review offers the most potential.
Download Free PDF View PDF
Health Sociology Review
The paper presents an historical critical policy analysis of deinstitutionalisation and the introduction of neoliberal forms of governance in mental health policy. It focuses particularly on a major period of policy reform in the 1980s and 1990s in Victoria, Australia. Many of the particularities of the Victorian experience can be generally observed with deinstitutionalisation throughout the world. In particular, the policy discourse of rights and entitlements, consumer choice and empowerment, at times stood in tension with the service void created by the transition from large, standalone psychiatric institutions, to dispersed forms of service provision outside the hospital. Further, certain policy features could be seen to perpetuate patterns of coercion, abuse and neglect. This article offers a number of potential lessons for mental health law, policy and practice today, which is poised for further advances of neoliberal governance, including through the policy of personalised services, individualised disability funding and human rights-based reform.
Download Free PDF View PDF
