Mental health tribunals have the potential to
be difficult and challenging.
Tribunals lie at the interface between
psychiatry and the law, and use concepts which are not frequently
used in clinical practice.
The meanings of these concepts are rarely
taught during psychiatric training and can leave clinicians ill
prepared for the scrutiny of the tribunal.
This module will primarily aid clinicians
facing mental health tribunals within England. The aim of the
module is to demystify the medico-legal aspects of tribunals by
reviewing the law (section 72 MHA 1983) and key factors they
consider in reaching their decision.
The module presents a mock tribunal to
aid learning, where you will be asked to follow the case history of
a patient with paranoid schizophrenia. You will be presented
with typical questions from the tribunal, and given an
opportunity to respond. Model answers are
also provided. The statutory criteria, legal definitions and case
law will be discussed as part of the answers.
Please note that the module does not aim to
account for all questions asked in tribunals but it will provide
you with a framework to address the key issues.
Start the
module