Mental health law

Mental health law includes a wide variety of legal topics that pertain to persons with a diagnosis or possible diagnosis of a mental health condition, and to those involved in managing or treating such people. Laws that relate to mental health include:

employment laws, including laws that prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of a mental health condition, require reasonable accommodations in the workplace, and provide mental health-related leave;
insurance laws, including laws governing private medical and disability insurance, and Social Security Disability Insurance;
housing laws, including housing discrimination and zoning;
education laws, including laws that prohibit discrimination, and laws that require reasonable accommodations, equal access to programs and services, and free and appropriate public education;
laws that provide a right to treatment;
civil commitment and guardianship laws;
laws governing treatment professionals, including liscencing laws, confidentiality, informed consent, and medical malpractice;
laws governing admission of expert testimony or other psychiatric evidence in court; and
criminal laws, including laws governing fitness for trial or execution and the insanity defense.

Mental health law has received relatively little attention in scholarly legal forums. The University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law in 2011 announced the formation of a student-edited law journal entitled "Mental Health Law & Policy Journal."

Involuntary Commitment

Mental health legislation is largely used in the management of psychiatric disorders, such as dementia or psychosis, and developmental disabilities, where a person does not possess the ability to act in a legally competent manner and requires treatment and/or another person to act in his or her best interests. The laws generally cover the requirements and procedures for involuntary commitment and compulsory treatment in a psychiatric hospital or other facility.

In some jurisdictions, court orders are required for compulsory treatment; in others, psychiatrists may treat compulsorily by following set procedures, usually with means of appeal or regular scrutiny to ensure compliance with the law.

Sources of Law

Mental health law includes areas of both civil and criminal common and statutory law.

In common law jurisdictions

Common law is based on long-standing English legal principles, as interpreted through case law. Mental health-related legal concepts include mens rea, insanity defences; legal definitions of "sane," "insane," and "incompetent;" informed consent; and automatism, amongst many others.

Statutory Law

Statutory law usually takes the form of a mental health statute. An example is the Mental Health Act 1983 in England and Wales. These acts codify aspects of the treatment of mental illness and provides rules and procedures to be followed and penalties for breaches.

Not all countries have mental health acts. The World Health Report (2001) lists the following percentages, by region, for countries with and without mental health legislation.^[1]

Regions	With legislation	No legislation
Africa	59%	41%
The Americas	73%	27%
Eastern Mediterranean	59%	41%
Europe	96%	4%
South-East Asia	67%	33%
Western Pacific	72%	28%

Notes

^ Presence of mental health policies and legislation, The World Health Report 2001, chap. 4, fig. 4.1 (accessed June 8, 2005).