From CBC News. “Elements of British Columbia’s involuntary care regime that allow forced psychiatric treatment, regardless of a person’s capacity to make health care decisions, are unconstitutional, the B.C. Supreme Court has ruled.
In a decision published Thursday, Justice Lauren Blake ruled provisions in the Mental Health Act violated both patients’ Canadian Charter equality rights and rights to life, liberty and security of the person, and gave the province a six-month window to amend the legislation.
In her ruling, Blake found that under B.C.’s system, instead of narrowly-defined intrusions into patient’s rights, mental health facility directors are “automatically granted a blanket power to provide any psychiatric treatment they determine appropriate to any involuntary patient in any situation.”
The ruling comes as B.C. seeks to ramp up involuntary treatment for people with severe mental health conditions, substance use disorders and brain injuries.
The post ‘Blanket’ Forced Treatment of Involuntary Psychiatric Patients Unconstitutional, B.C. Court Rules appeared first on Mad In America.
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