Human Rights Commission: "Procedures for Voluntary and Consent Admission of People with Intellectual Disabilities Must Be Improved"

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-joo] The National Human Rights Commission has determined that the voluntary and consented admission procedures for individuals with intellectual disabilities need to be improved.

On the 12th, the Human Rights Commission announced that it recommended corrective measures to Psychiatric Medical Institution A, which refused the discharge request of a severely intellectually disabled patient admitted under consented admission on the grounds that a discharge application was not submitted, and arbitrarily maintained the patient's hospitalization.

The current Mental Health Welfare Act stipulates various types of hospitalization, among which voluntary admission and consented admission are considered forms of voluntary hospitalization. Patients admitted under these types can apply for admission or discharge from the hospital at any time according to their voluntary will.

The victim in this case, Mr. B in his 40s, is a moderately severe intellectually disabled person with psychosocial development at the level of a 5-year-old, lacking verbal comprehension and social judgment, making it difficult for him to choose the type of admission or enjoy the associated rights on his own.

However, the respondent hospital, after the establishment of the consented admission system, persuaded the complainant (the victim's father), who had never admitted the victim to a psychiatric medical institution before, and the victim, and processed the victim as admitted under consented admission. Despite the victim's repeated intentions to be discharged, the hospital refused the request on the grounds that no discharge application was submitted, according to the Human Rights Commission's findings.

The Human Rights Commission judged that such actions by the respondent hospital unjustly infringed on the victim's physical freedom and recommended that the hospital director conduct human rights and duty education for affiliated staff to prevent similar incidents. Additionally, it recommended that local governments supervise and manage hospitals and take administrative measures against cases of unjustified hospitalization extensions, and advised the Minister of Health and Welfare to develop guidelines and related countermeasures.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.