ABSTRACT
The Mental Health Bill was put out for consultation by the Department of Health in Summer 2002. The Bill was given a resounding thumbs down by what the government describes as the 'key stakeholders', known to the rest of us as patients/service users, carers, psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, nurses and voluntary organisations. The Bill provides clearly for the treatment order to be enforced in hospital settings. Resident detained patients may be required to accept medication using reasonable force. Non-resident patients may be required, again using reasonable force, to accept medication specified in an approved treatment plan if they have attended or been taken forcibly to a hospital. In terms of upholding the dignity and rights of mentally disordered people and their relatives, the new human rights agenda will be counterproductive. The new human rights agenda involves reading up the state's positive duty under Article 2 to uphold the public's right to life, the so-called Osman duty.
