Are we Doctors helping people with Mental illness or doing more damage?

Are we Doctors helping people with Mental illness or doing more damage?

When a patient with a known mental illness visits a doctor for a non-mental health issue, there are certain doubts than arise in the mind of the medical professional. One very common one among them- can this person give a valid consent for a procedure/surgery?

[1] That’s a relevant concern for the doctor. We are not sure if consent given my a person with mental illness is valid legally. So in most cases we end up taking consent from an attender just to be safe.

[2] But what if the attender does not want the patient to undergo that treatment, and there is a conflict of opinion between the patient and attender? Then what do we do?

[3] Let me now present the legal stance. Which is A LOT MORE CLEAR AND STRAIGHTFORWARD than we think.

[4] The Mental Health Act of 2017 clearly states every person, including those with mental illness, is considered to have the capacity to make decisions about their treatment if they can understand the relevant information provided to them, appreciate consequences of their decision and communicate their decision.

[5] This applies to both treatment in relation to their mental health, and also treatment for conditions unrelated to their mental health.

[6] Now who decides if they are able to comprehend the information? Well, who decides the same point when it comes to any other patient as well?

[7] The doctor who obtains the consent decides based on his interaction with the patient.

[8] NO additional certification or approval by a psychiatrist is required.

[9] What if the patient makes a decision that appears wrong to the attender or even the doctor?
Here I’ll ask you another question, do all patients, those without mental illness, always follow the doctors recommendation? If they don’t, do you deem that as being due to a mental illness?

[10] The Mental Health Act even clarifies this point by stating that making of a decision that is perceived as wrong/inappropriate, shall NOT be grounds to deem the person as being incapable of making that decision.

So the law is very clear. And it has empowered us to truly respect the autonomy and dignity of persons with mental illness by giving them the right to make own treatment decisions.

I believe, if we as doctors, are still invalidating this right of theirs, we are not helping anyone, merely adding to the stigma around mental health.

#medicalnegligence #doctors #indiandoctors #medicolegal #medlegal #medicallaw #mentalhealth #informedconsent #consent