J Korean Neuropsychiatr Assoc.  2018 Feb;57(1):43-51. 10.4306/jknpa.2018.57.1.43.

Contemplation of Legal Criteria of Psychiatric Compulsory Admission: Including an Introduction of US Case Which Can be Referred to the Assessment of the Appropriateness of Hospitalization in Korea

• Kim H
• Ahn Y
• Park JI

• KMID: 2405531
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4306/jknpa.2018.57.1.43

Abstract

The Korean Mental Health Act has been radically reformed recently in order to improve psychiatric patients' human rights by regulating the compulsory admission process. However, the expert group brought up questions about difficulties in practice and incoherence in its philosophy before the Act was implemented. There are already discussions concerning the next revision of the Act. In such a situation, lessons can be learned from the experiences of other countries. Articles on psychiatric compulsory admission were comprehensively reviewed with the focus on legal criteria, and found that current trends worldwide include a move towards broad diagnostic criteria, use of capacity and treatability test, and treatment in the interest of health rather than safety. In addition, we introduce the Whittington scale, an assessment tool for the appropriateness of hospitalization used in the Connecticut Mental Health Center, US, as a reference for the similar procedure being implemented soon in Korea.

Keyword

Compulsory admission; Legal criteria; Psychiatric diagnosis; Dangerousness; Need for treatment; Decision-making capacity; Appropriateness of hospitalization; The Whittington scale

MeSH Terms

Connecticut
Dangerous Behavior
Hospitalization*
Human Rights
Korea*
Mental Disorders
Mental Health
Philosophy

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