Amnesty claims patients' rights are being violated

THE RIGHTS of vulnerable mental health patients are being violated on a regular basis and they are suffering “huge discrimination”, Amnesty International has claimed.

The organisation has launch-ed a guide to the rights of mentally ill people in response to incidents which have been documented in recent reports by the Mental Health Commission.

Reports into standards of care at St Michael’s Unit, South Tipperary General Hospital in Clonmel, and St Luke’s Hospital, Clonmel, found intellectually disabled residents were being inappropriately administered tranquilisers to control their behaviour. The reports were commissioned following concerns over the number of fractures suffered by residents at the hospitals.

Amnesty International Ireland executive director Colm O’Gorman said: “In recent months the Mental Health Commission has released yet another damning report on services in Ireland, highlighting that residents at inpatient units are being ‘forgotten and neglected’.

“These are high-profile incidents, and this guide has information about national and international human rights standards that need to be used to address such horrific circumstances. We hope this guide will empower people to assert their rights and say, ‘Wait a moment, I deserve to be listened to when it comes to my own treatment’.”

The document, entitled the AI Guide on Human Health and Human Rights, is part of Amnesty International's mental health campaign which was launched in June. The guide provides information in relation to the detention of mentally ill people, pointing out that such detention can happen only in an appropriate place such as a hospital, and the environment should be as close as possible to the normal environment of the person being detained.

It explains the issue of informed consent to treatment and the circumstances in which the State must seek consent and when it should not.

The principle of least intrusive treatment is also explained in detail, particularly the circumstances in which restraint can be used.

The document outlines the anti-discrimination legislation that is available to people with mental health problems in relation to employment, services and housing, in particular.

Mr O’Gorman said the Government had failed to deliver on its promise in the mental health policy, A Vision for Change, that it would prioritise the human rights of the individual.

“We feel people with mental health problems need to know more about what that promise means. This guide is part of our work to show how this could and should be achieved,” he said. “Any of us could experience mental health problems, so it is vital for everyone that the Government puts into practice its own policy, using human rights as the basis for reform in mental health services.

“Ireland has signed up to and is bound by a number of minimum standards under international human rights law, many of which are relevant to mental health,” he said.

More than 5,000 copies of the Amnesty International guide will be distributed directly to people who are experiencing mental health problems.