New Israeli psychiatric legislation.

For about 35 years, the 1955 Mental Act served as the main legal tool applied in the treatment of admitted patients in Israel. The law was wearing out, although 'patched up' repeatedly, and could no longer express 'the spirit of the times'. After many vicissitudes, a new Mental Act was implemented in 1991. The various areas dealt with in the new law are described and discussed. Special attention is focused on two issues: patients' rights and the decisions pertaining to enforced examination, hospitalization and treatment.