Strasbourg, 12/10/2004 (Agence Europe) - The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe has just adopted a new recommendation designed to protect the fundamental rights and dignity of people suffering from mental disorders. This non-binding recommendation lays down a number of rules which should be respected in the 46 Member States of the pan-European organisation.
An earlier text, dating from 1983, attempted to improve the situation, but its scope was more limited. In this new recommendation, the Council of Europe aims to take account of mental disorders across the board, including depression, which effects a large proportion of the population. One person in four will suffer from a mental health problem at least once in their lifetime. The recommendation refers to all problems, and also touches upon banning discrimination, and information on treatments and the promotion of mental health in general. It provides minimum standards for involuntary internment and involuntary treatment.
According to an expert, this text is a step forward, especially for countries of central and eastern Europe, where people are very often held as matter of course with few controls, but it is still much too weak to guarantee the effective protection of people concerned. This situation can be explained by how the Council of Europe drew up its recommendations, in which officials from the Member States were also involved. Among its shortcomings feature a quasi-authorisation for involuntary treatment- the wording only limits the use of treatments to irreversible consequences, and surgery remains possible- and the absence of any reference to a multi-disciplinary body to control interments. Even if the situation in psychiatric hospitals is considerably better in western European countries, many problems remain in most countries. Involuntary internment with no possibility of appeal still exists in Ireland. The intervention of multi-disciplinary bodies exists in countries like the UK and the Netherlands. In Belgium, this is provided for by law, but the application rulings have not yet been taken. Although specially trained healthcare staff are, in theory, available in western Europe, the Brumath hospital in France recently asked a security company to watch the patients. In practically all eastern countries, staff with no medical training are often in charge of the patients. Bed-cages and other tough physical constraints still exist in certain countries, including the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Romania. In certain cases- recently in Romania, where these have led to no fewer that 60 deaths- not only is the care lacking, but also the food, and basic bedding.