Shea P B
Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 1984 Sep;18(3):218-23. doi: 10.3109/00048678409161294.
For 11 years the N.S.W. mental health legislation was under review. The new legislation was finally enacted in 1983. Several different committees worked on the development of the legislation over the 11-year period. Two government departments, the Department of Health and the Attorney-General's Department, were involved in the preparation of the legislation. As a result, many parts of the Act represent an uneasy compromise between the medical-humanitarian and legal points of view. The process of development of the definition of a mentally ill person, which is traced in this article, exemplifies this. Features of the new definition are critically reviewed and potential problems discussed.
11年来，新南威尔士州的心理健康立法一直在审议之中。新立法最终于1983年颁布。在这11年期间，几个不同的委员会致力于该立法的制定工作。两个政府部门，即卫生部和总检察长办公室，参与了该立法的起草工作。因此，该法案的许多部分代表了医学人道主义观点和法律观点之间的一种勉强的妥协。本文所追溯的精神疾病患者定义的制定过程就例证了这一点。对新定义的特点进行了批判性审视，并讨论了潜在问题。
