Understanding the Psychiatric Patient Care Law and Mandatory Patient Retention

Written by Mahmoud Hussein

Tuesday, April 18, 2023 04:00 PM

The Psychiatric Patient Care Law prohibits keeping a psychiatric patient compulsorily in a mental health facility for more than a week, except after conducting two psychological evaluations of the patient by psychiatric specialists registered with the competent regional council for mental health, as the case may be, one of whom is from outside the facility and the other is from its employees, provided that one of them is a government employee.

According to the law, the evaluation may not be carried out by specialists working in one entity. The two evaluations shall be sent to the Regional Council for Mental Health within seven days of mandatory patient retention, and the form used for that shall be attached to them.

In the event that these procedures are not met on the specified dates, the case of compulsory admission of the patient ends, and the facility bears the consequences that may result from that.

According to the law, the compulsory admission of a patient ends if the Regional Council for Mental Health is not satisfied with the results of the psychological assessment submitted to it, after examination by the National Council for Mental Health or the Regional Council for Mental Health.

Article (45) of the Psychiatric Patient Care Law stipulates that he shall be punished with imprisonment for a period not exceeding two years and a fine of not less than five thousand pounds and not more than ten thousand pounds, or one of these two penalties:

1- Every doctor who deliberately proves in his report what is contrary to reality regarding the psychological or mental state of a person with the intention of admitting him to the facility or removing him from it.

2- Whoever intentionally detains or causes the detainment of a person as suffering from a psychological or mental illness in places other than those stipulated in this law.