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Who should act as the second medical recommendation for Sections 2 and 3 of the Mental Health Act?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

E. K. Ung*
Affiliation:
Adam Road Hospital, 19 Adam Road, Singapore 1128
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Since 1959, the responsibility to detain a patient in hospital compulsorily has been given to doctors, social workers and hospital managers. The 1983 Mental Health Act stipulates that medical recommendations are made by two medical practitioners (one an “approved” doctor) for compulsory admission for assessment (Section 2) and compulsory admission for treatment (Section 3). When this was debated in Parliament, the importance of the independence of the two doctors making medical recommendations was stressed. This was to avoid collusion, influence or interference with clinical judgement (Bluglass, 1983).

Type
Original articles
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists 1993

References

Bluglass, R. (1983) A Guide to the Mental Health Act 1983. London: Churchill Livingstone.Google Scholar
DHSS (1990) Code of Practice, Mental Health Act 1983. P 10. London: HMSO.Google Scholar
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