Legal dilemmas for clinicians involved in the care and treatment of children and young people with mental disorder

摘要

Background  The 2008 revised Mental Health Act Code of Practice describes the legal framework governing the admission to hospital and treatment of children and young people for mental disorders as complex. Clinicians are required to be conversant with common law principles as well as the Mental Health Act (MHA), Children Act, Mental Capacity Act (MCA), Family Law Reform Act, Human Rights Act, and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Professionals working with the MHA and the MCA have a legal duty to have regard to the respective Codes of Practice (MHA Code and MCA Code). In addition there is a need to keep up-to-date with developments in case law. The recent guidance from the National Institute for Mental Health in England, ‘The Legal Aspects of the Care and Treatment of Children and Young People with Mental Disorder’ draws all of the legal regimes together and suggests pointers on the most appropriate course of action when the regimes overlap.