LAW and MENTAL HEALTH

1
LAW and MENTAL HEALTH

• I would remind you that extremism in the
  defence of liberty is no vice, and let me remind
  you also that moderation in the pursuit of
  justice is no virtue
• US Presidential candidate Barry Goldwater (speech
  1964)

• Speak the truth, but leave immediately
  afterwards
• Slovenian Proverb

2
All human beings are born free and equal in
dignity and rights

• To no one will we sell, to no one will we deny,
  or delay, right or justice
• Clause 40 Magna Carta (1215)
• A society is measured by the way in which it
  treats its most vulnerable citizens
• Edna Conlon 1990

3
They are endowed with reason and conscience and
should act towards one another in a spirit of
brotherhood

• Let your conscience be your reason
• Sophocles

4
Irish Advocacy Network

• Our aim is to facilitate user empowerment by
  supporting people to speak up and speak out and
  take back control of their own life.

5
Advocacy- A Human Right?

• Advocacy is an essential process which supports
  individuals to negotiate the often daunting
  mental health system
• With us in mind findings of advocacy standards
  project MIND UK 2006

6
ADVICE

• Abstain from beans
• Pythagorus 600 BC

7
Choice

• Where we are free to act, we are also free not
  to act
• Aristotle 384-322 BC Nichomachean Ethics
• A child becomes an adult when he realises that
  he has a right not only to be right but also to
  be wrong
• Thomas Szasz b.1920

8
Fair and Just Laws

• The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the
  rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges,
  to beg in the streets and to steal bread
• Anatole France (1884-1924)

9
Mental Health Act 2001

• No! No! said the Queen, sentence first- verdict
  afterwards
• Lewis Carroll Alices adventures in wonderland
  (1865)
• It is better that ten guilty persons escape than
  one innocent suffer
• Sir William Blackstone 1723-1780

10
Poor Judgement

• The judgement of the person concerned is so
  impaired
• 2001 Mental Health Act
• If the law says that, then the law is a ass
• Bumble the Beadle in Oliver Twist Charles
  Dickens

11
Blind Justice?

• Wrongdoing can only be avoided if those who are
  not wronged feel the same indignation at it as
  those who are
• Solon 638-559BC Athenian Poet, statesman and
  reformer
• All we can do is uphold the laws, all of us,
  without allowing the memory of justice to fade
• J.M. Coetzee Waiting for the Barbarians (1980)

12
The non-autonomous

• I think, therefore I am
• Rene Descartes Discourse de la methode (1637)
• The treatment of every person shall be directed
  towards preserving and enhancing personal
  autonomy UN MI principles 1991 Article 9.4

13
Who decides?

• The committee favours a definition of best
  interests which gives priority to the assumed
  wishes of the patient as far as they are
  ascertainable
• Report of the Expert Committee on Mental Health
  (UK)
• Richardson Report (UK) 1999

14
STIGMA and Public Attitudes

• Only 41 of those
• surveyed thought
• people with mental
• health problems
• should have children
• if they wished. Only
• 61 believed that people
• with mental health
• problems had the right to
• fulfilment through sexual
• Relationships Public Attitudes towards people
  with disabilities NDA 2007.

15
DUPLICITY

• The Carl spake oo thing, but he thoghte another
• Chaucer Canterbury Tales ( 1387 )
• But what if there are two mobs?- Shout with
  the largest, said Mr. Pickwick
• Charles Dickens Pickwick Papers

16
Dignity and Respect

• I had no underwear to wear for nine months when
  I was there, none that would fit me. If I asked
  for some I was made fun of
• Extract from service user presentation to MHC
  conference Making a Difference November 2007