Hospitals are failing to follow legal safeguards for mentally ill patients who are involuntarily detained, according to a report issued recently by B.C.’s ombudsperson.
Ombudsperson Jay Chalke released a scathing report, Committed to Change: Protecting the Rights of Involuntary Patients under the Mental Health Act, which makes 20 findings highlighting the lack of compliance with patients’ legal rights.
Noting involuntary detention and treatment is the most intrusive form of mental health care available, Chalke’s report makes 24 recommendations to increase oversight and accountability, improve staff training as well as create an independent rights advisor service. He said those recommendations have been accepted in principle by government and health authorities.
The report does not address a recent B.C. Supreme Court case of a woman who had been involuntarily detained for almost a year at Delta Hospital and other facilities, a case in which the woman was denied her right to speak to a lawyer for nine months. The charter rights of that 39-year-old woman were “egregiously and repeatedly violated” by the Fraser Health Authority, a judge ruled.
Noting his report focused on people detained under the Mental Health Act, not other acts such as the Adult Guardianship Act which was the case for the woman in Delta, Chalke explained people can meet the criteria for admission under more than one legal authority and statute.
Only after the woman was permitted to speak to a lawyer, and that lawyer filed a petition against the FHA, did the health authority apply for a court order under Adult Guardianship Act.
“As to whether or not that individual should have been detained under the Mental Health Act, then she would have received, if our recommendations are implemented, a visit from a rights advisor and that rights advisor at that point can provide advice about the Mental Health Act. Once aware she’s also detained under another act, they could certainly guide her to whatever recourse there is with respect to the other reason for her detention,” Chalke said in a conference call with media Thursday.
The ombudsperson said his office will monitor implementation of the recommendations by the provincial government and health authorities and will report publicly on the progress.
