© 2007 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
Correspondence |
Mental health and incapacity legislation
Department of Forensic Psychiatry, Academic Centre, West London Mental Health NHS Trust, Southall, Middlesex UB1 3EU, UK.
Correspondence: Email: a.maden{at}ic.ac.uk
EDITED BY KIRIAKOS XENITIDIS and COLIN CAMPBELL
I enjoyed the article by Dawson & Szmukler (2006) because I like to keep up to date with legal and ethical issues in mental health. However, their claim for equivalence between mental and physical diseases sits uneasily with scientific papers published in the Journal. Shaw et al (2006) found that schizophrenia had a prevalence of 5% in perpetrators of homicide, compared with 1% in the general population. I would love to see comparable figures for the prevalence of hypertension, multiple sclerosis, leprosy etc., but meanwhile we have a problem. The Ritchie report on the inquiry into the care of Christopher Clunis reveals capacity’s dark side by showing how psychiatrists repeatedly brought a patient to the point at which he could make his own decisions, then left him to fend for himself (Ritchie et al, 1994). Perhaps the best way for services to reduce the stigma and discrimination associated with psychiatric illness is to reduce the 5% figure? Somehow, I cannot see capacity-based legislation playing a lead role in achieving that objective.
REFERENCES
- Dawson, J. & Szmukler, G. (2006) Fusion of
mental health and incapacity legislation. British Journal of
Psychiatry, 188, 504
–509.
[Abstract/Free Full Text] - Ritchie, J., Dick, D. & Lingham, R. (1994) The Report of the Inquiry into the Care and Treatment of Christopher Clunis. TSO (The Stationery Office).
- Shaw, J., Hunt, I. M., Flynn, S., et al
(2006) Rates of mental disorder in people convicted of
homicide: a national clinical survey. British Journal of
Psychiatry, 188, 143
–147.
[Abstract/Free Full Text]
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