Resumen de The legal and ethical framework for compulsory psychiatric treatment

Gareth S. Owen, Benjamin W.J. Spencer, Richard A.A. Kanaan

• Compulsory detention and treatment is a key ethical issue facing psychiatry. It involves clinicians overriding patients' apparent autonomy, with ensuing ethical implications. The legal basis for detention and treatment is equally complex, with two Acts – the Mental Health Act 1983 and the Mental Capacity Act 2005 – applying to patients with mental illness.