CONSTITUTIONAL POSITION AND REASONS
· Replaces Lunacy Act 1912
o A more sensitive law
o Sensitive treatment of mental illness – omission of words like “idiot” or broad generalizations
o Larger role for qualified professionals such as psychiatrists to determine mental illness and scope of mental illness
· The need for regulation
o Property/Estate Management
o Management of the patient
· Health a provincial subject after the 18th Amendment
· Mental Health Ordinance creates
o a Mental Health Authority
o Board of visitors
o Court of protection
· Confusion around the Mental health in terms of jurisdiction
VOLUNTARY AND INVOLUNTARY TREATMENTS
Voluntary treatment: Any person suffering from a mental illness who seeks treatment voluntarily or whose relatives bring him/her for treatment or if a doctor has referred him/her for treatment and the person with mental illness consents to treatment will be examined by a psychiatrist and given appropriate treatment or recommendations. Assessment and/or treatment will be administered only after receiving informed written consent from the person with mental illness, or if it is a minor then by the guardian, or if an adult who by virtue of his mental state is not able to give consent, then by his/her spouse or nearest relative. The person giving consent may withdraw his/her consent for treatment at any time.
