Ding Chunyan
School of Law, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
Int J Law Psychiatry. 2014 Nov-Dec;37(6):581-8. doi: 10.1016/j.ijlp.2014.02.032. Epub 2014 Mar 12.
The long-awaited Mental Health Law of China was passed on 26 October 2012 and took effect on 1 May 2013. Being the first national legislation on mental health, it establishes a basic legal framework to regulate mental health practice and recognizes the fundamental rights of persons with mental disorders. This article focuses on the system of involuntary detention and treatment of the mentally ill under the new law, which is expected to prevent the so-called "Being misidentified as mentally disordered" cases in China. A systematic examination of the new system demonstrates that the Mental Health Law of China implicitly holds two problematic assumptions and does not provide adequate protection of the fundamental rights of the involuntary patients. Administrative enactments and further national legislative efforts are needed to remedy these flaws in the new law.
备受期待的中国《精神卫生法》于2012年10月26日通过，并于2013年5月1日生效。作为首部关于精神卫生的国家立法，它建立了规范精神卫生实践的基本法律框架，并承认精神障碍患者的基本权利。本文聚焦于新法律下对精神病患者的非自愿拘留和治疗制度，该制度有望防止中国所谓的“被误诊为精神障碍”案件。对新制度的系统审查表明，中国《精神卫生法》隐含着两个有问题的假设，并且没有为非自愿患者的基本权利提供充分保护。需要行政法令和进一步的国家立法努力来弥补新法律中的这些缺陷。
