ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the controversial topic of ‘Treatment Without Consent’. Like the other chapters, this one starts with an anonymised clinical case history of involuntary admission and treatment. This chapter explores controversial legal issues associated with involuntary psychiatric admission and care. This discussion incorporates the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006) and other statements from UN committees and bodies, variously denouncing and supporting involuntary care. The chapter explores apparent variations in rates of involuntary admission across different jurisdictions, and concludes that treatment without consent should be possible, rare, and codified in law. Finally, this chapter discusses the idea that law and medicine are both fields that can deeply marginalise or greatly assist vulnerable members of society, so the interaction between law and medicine in psychiatry presents both significant risks and valuable opportunities that should not be missed.
