Mental Health
Compulsory detention due to Mental Illness is perhaps the most frightening thing that can happen to a person. They are being placed in hospital and often treated against their will and being watched. They are with other people they do not know who themselves are ill and often acting in a disturbing manner. They are the most vulnerable of all clients.
By definition they are legally incapacitated, often acting and thinking irrationally, sometimes suicidal or hyper manic, perhaps suffering from dementia, sometimes in a fog of drug induced psychosis. They have legal rights but often have no realistic grasp of the instructions they are giving. They and their families are often frightened and confused. There may be tension between them as family members struggled to cope with the onset of the illness before the hospitalization.
Those detained under s2 s3 or s37, placed under s7, or on supervised discharge under s25A of the Mental Health Act 1983 have the right of appeal to the Mental Health Review Tribunal and can also appeal to the hospital managers. Those detained under s37/41 have the right of appeal to the Mental Health Review Tribunal. Application to displace nearest relatives under s29 can be made. Public funding is available in all these situations to patients and nearest relatives.
The Park Court Chambers Mental Health team of Melissa Agar and Laurence Saffer has a wealth of experience. They have both lectured and run large successful departments in Solicitors firms. Melissa was a Mental Health Act Commission Visiting Member inspecting Mental Health trusts in London and Kent, and was Secretary to the Inquiry at the Luke Warm Luke Mental Health Inquiry, relating to the Lambeth Southwark and Lewisham Health Authority. Laurence sits as a Mental Health Review Tribunal President, ran 3 free hospital clinics in Leeds for 10 years, was involved with the Legal Service Commission in developing the original Mental Health franchise standards, and was the original convener and founder of the Yorkshire Mental Health Solicitors Group.
They can provide representation in all aspects of Tribunal or County Court work and High Court Judicial Reviews and can advise on the telephone or in writing on these issues and matters such as consent to treatment, community care and access to medical records.
