ABSTRACT
Mental disorder cannot be treated like any other form of medical disorder. The Mental Health Act 1983 provides for the compulsory detention of both criminal offenders and non-offenders. It is clear that mental health law raises distinct ethical and legal issues. Part IV of the Mental Health Act deals specifically with medical treatment. Although the Human Rights Act 1998 might be used to some effect, it is particularly pertinent to mental health law because of the power of the state to detain, without consent, people who have been diagnosed as suffering from a number of forms of mental disorder. Brenda Hoggett sets out the development of the law relating to the control of mentally disordered people. The purpose of the appropriate medical treatment test is to ensure that no one is detained for treatment, or is a supervised community treatment patient, unless they are actually to be offered medical treatment for their mental disorder.
