SIDMA as a criterion for psychiatric compulsion: An analysis of compulsory treatment orders in Scotland.

ABSTRACT: Scottish mental health legislation includes a unique criterion for the use of compulsion in the delivery of mental health care and treatment. Under the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act, 2003, patients must exhibit 'significantly impaired decision-making ability' (SIDMA) in order to be eligible for psychiatric detention or involuntary psychiatric treatment outside the forensic context. The SIDMA requirement represents a distinctive strategy in ongoing international efforts to rethink the conditions under which psychiatric compulsion is permissible. We reconstruct the history of the Scottish SIDMA requirement, analyse its differences from so-called 'fusion law,' and then examine how the SIDMA standard actually functions in practice. We analyse 100 reports that accompany appl

SUBMITTER: Martin W 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8527859 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Sep-Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature