Ethics and legislation in mental health care

Hans Joachim Salize Psychiatry deals with complex and significant ethical issues that are just as important for people with mental illness as they are for the society as a whole. While somatic medicine does not question the self-determination of patients and their right to refuse treatment, mental health care detains and treats patients against their will as a daily routine. Although being a cure-oriented speciality, mental health care is very often forced to being disruptive to patients’ basic areas of life including infringement of their fundamental rights. Also in contrast to somatic medicine, within its mand…