Protecting mental health clients' dignity - the importance of legal control. Kogstad, R. E. Int. J. Law Psychiatry, 32(6):383--391, November, 2009. 00000
Protecting mental health clients' dignity - the importance of legal control [link]Paper  doi  abstract   bibtex   
Protecting human beings' dignity is a fundamental value underlying the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights as well as several recommendations and conventions derived from this, among them the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR), a declaration that also takes precedence over Norwegian legislation. Still, clients' stories inform us that their dignity is not always protected in the mental health service systems. The aim of the study has been to investigate violations of dignity considered from the clients' points of view, and to suggest actions that may ensure that practice is brought in line with human rights values. The method used has been a qualitative content analysis of 335 client narratives. The conclusion is that mental health clients experience infringements that cannot be explained without reference to their status as clients in a system which, based on judgments from medical experts, has a legitimate right to ignore clients' voices as well as their fundamental human rights. The main focus of this discussion is the role of the ECHR and the European Court of Human Rights as instruments for protecting mental health clients' human rights. To bring about changes, recommendations and practices should be harmonized with the new UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006). Under this convention, the European Court of Human Rights has support for the application of the ECHR without exemptions for special groups of people.
@article{kogstad_protecting_2009,
	title = {Protecting mental health clients' dignity - the importance of legal control},
	volume = {32},
	issn = {0160-2527},
	url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijlp.2009.09.008},
	doi = {10.1016/j.ijlp.2009.09.008},
	abstract = {Protecting human beings' dignity is a fundamental value underlying the
UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights as well as several
recommendations and conventions derived from this, among them the European
Convention of Human Rights (ECHR), a declaration that also takes
precedence over Norwegian legislation. Still, clients' stories inform us
that their dignity is not always protected in the mental health service
systems. The aim of the study has been to investigate violations of
dignity considered from the clients' points of view, and to suggest
actions that may ensure that practice is brought in line with human rights
values. The method used has been a qualitative content analysis of 335
client narratives. The conclusion is that mental health clients experience
infringements that cannot be explained without reference to their status
as clients in a system which, based on judgments from medical experts, has
a legitimate right to ignore clients' voices as well as their fundamental
human rights. The main focus of this discussion is the role of the ECHR
and the European Court of Human Rights as instruments for protecting
mental health clients' human rights. To bring about changes,
recommendations and practices should be harmonized with the new UN
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006). Under this
convention, the European Court of Human Rights has support for the
application of the ECHR without exemptions for special groups of people.},
	number = {6},
	journal = {Int. J. Law Psychiatry},
	author = {Kogstad, Ragnfrid Eline},
	month = nov,
	year = {2009},
	note = {00000},
	keywords = {Sep 20 import, duplicate},
	pages = {383--391}
}

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