The operation of the Mental Health Act, 1983 (NSW).

The Mental Health Act, 1983, and its associated legislation, effects an extensive reorganisation of the law relating to mental health in New South Wales. This paper seeks to explain the operation of the Act from the point of view of medical practitioners, for the most part medical officers and psychiatrists employed in psychiatric hospitals. Reference is also made to the rights of patients, medical and surgical treatment of patients, the property of patients and the operation of the Mental Health Review Tribunal.