The Mental Health Care Act provides that every psychiatric patient over the age of 18 has the right to seek admission to a mental health facility without anyone’s consent, and has the right to request release in at any time, unless the conditions exist for forced hospitalization to be applied to him, in which case the prescribed procedures are followed, in this regard, and in all cases, the patient’s family is notified when he consents to it.
The responsible psychiatrist or his delegate can, on the basis of a motivated psychological assessment, prevent the patient hospitalized forcibly from leaving the structure for a period not exceeding seventy-two hours in one of the following two cases:
– If you believe that your exit presents a serious possibility of immediate or imminent harm to your safety, health or life, or to the safety, health or life of others.
– If you see that you are unable to take care of yourself due to the type or severity of your mental illness.
In the two aforementioned cases, during this period the doctor cannot provide any treatment for the disease without his consent, except for emergency treatment, and must be subjected to the forced entry regime in accordance with the provisions of article 13 of this law . , notifying the Regional Department of Mental Health and carrying out an independent medical report, and the term which can be extended, unless it exceeds one week, if the justifications provided for in the aforementioned article remain and it has not been possible to obtain a medical report autonomy within the first three days of preventing the patient from leaving the facility, provided that the reasons that led to the extension of detention are communicated to the Regional Mental Health Department, all according to the methods established by the implementing regulations of this law.
