Wrongly institutionalized demand fairer diagnoses(2)

ABUSE

While Wang and Qin both knew their parents did not mean to harm them, Chen Guoming, a former gold store owner, felt his institutionalization was actually a form of blackmail.

After refusing to lend money to his wife's family at their request, Chen was tied up by his wife, her parents and brother and thrown into an asylum in February 2011.

When his sister called police and requested his release, she was told that Chen's wife, whom they considered his sole custodian, was the only person authorized to get him out.

Chen's confinement lasted for 56 days. When he was released, he found his wife had transferred nearly 800,000 yuan (126,182 U.S. dollars) from his account and taken all of the jewelry in his store. His losses totaled six million yuan.

Chen filed a lawsuit, but the court's ruling after the first trial was in favor of his wife. "The court said her act constituted a legal method of seeking out medication for me."

He appealed the ruling and a second trial was held on Sept. 24. He is still waiting for the final ruling.

Such cases are not rare in China. Inadequate diagnoses and a heavy reliance on families and custodians sometimes result in wrongful institutionalization. In some places, institutionalization is used as a political tool, with protestors ending up in asylums for voicing their grievances.

All four wrongly-institutionalized victims cited multiple abuses of laws and rights in their letters, demanding that doctors make more scientific diagnoses of the mentally ill and avoid harming innocent people.

Their letters were also sent to 108 senior psychiatrists who were recently tasked by the Ministry of Health to play a leading role in psychiatric disease control and prevention.

LEGISLATION

A draft law on mental health, which was tabled for a second reading at a session of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) in August, is expected to help eliminate abuses regarding compulsory mental health treatment, allowing patients and their relatives to lodge lawsuits against the government, medical institutions and individuals if they feel their rights have been infringed upon.

However, the draft law still lacks a clear and legal definition for psychopathy. In August, the Shanghai health bureau asked community health services to screen patients who were suspected of being mentally ill. It included a checklist of behaviors, including "likely to stay home in isolation," triggering controversy and protests.

The draft law states that families and custodians should bring suspected patients to hospitals for psychoanalysis if they are, or are about to, harm themselves or other people or disrupt public safety.

In case where severe harm is possible, public security authorities are allowed to force patients to be hospitalized and inform their custodians, the draft states.

"There's still a risk that family members, such as parents or spouses, may forcibly institutionalize a mentally healthy person by using domestic disputes as evidence," said Professor Li Xuan from the law school of the Central University of Finance and Economics.

Li said a written agreement by a suspected patient is essential for psychoanalysis. "The suspect should not be taken to a hospital by force if he or other family members strongly oppose psychiatric checks or treatments."

In practice, however, doctors often assume that the person who forcibly commits a suspected patient is the patient's custodian, according to Professor Liu Ruishuang from Beijing University.

"Hospitals should be responsible for checking custodians' identities to avoid harming the innocent," Liu said.