The Court examined the constitutionality of Brian’s Law, which was passed in 2000 after a man named Brian Smith was fatally shot by an untreated schizophrenic. The law included expanded committal criteria and allowed for involuntary admission for individuals who had experienced “substantial mental deterioration,”even if they were not necessarily a danger to others. In …Read more

This case concerned an application against the Czech Republic lodged with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (the Convention). The applicant alleged that he was ill-treated in a sobering-up centre in violation of Article 3 of the Convention, and …Read more

The Centre for Addition and Mental Health (CAMH) and the Mental Health Centre Penetanguichene (MHCP)appealed an order by the Mental Disorder Court to send a person accused of sexual assault to a hospital for psychiatric treatment. The judge knew that beds for treatment would not be available until six days later. The appeal was on …Read more

After sounding a car horn repeatedly and behaving in a highly agitated manner, the applicant was arrested by police in Birmingham, United Kingdom. It was determined that before his arrest, the man had inflicted serious injury upon his aunt at his residence. He was detained under section 136 of the Mental Health Act, which allows …Read more

The Applicant, a UK citizen born in 1947, alleged that the seclusion policy (“Policy”) of Ashworth Special Hospital (“Ashworth”), the maximum security hospital where he was committed for a mental illness, violated the European Convention on Human Rights. After several instances of incarceration and hospitalization on account of various mental health issues, the applicant was …Read more

S, an adult male diagnosed with schizophrenia, lived for many years with his half-sister and step-mother, his closest living relatives, before they applied in 2000 to the Ruse Regional Court to have S declared legally incapacitated. The court declared S only partially incapacitated. S’s family refused to accept guardianship for S, and the court instead …Read more

Milan Sykora, a Czech national, suffered from a psycho-social disability and did not take his medication because he claimed it negatively affected his eyesight. In November 2000 the Brno Municipal Court deprived Sykora of his capacity to make legal decisions after he failed to collect his pension for four years. The decision was made based …Read more

Mr. Hadzic and Mr. Suljic were detained in the Psychiatric Annex of Zenica Prison. Each claimed that their detention was unlawful under Article 5, section 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights (“Convention”), which protects the right to liberty and security of person They argued that the Annex was not an appropriate institution for …Read more

On the basis of information from A’s family, A’s primary physician requested that A be hospitalized as soon as possible at the Buskerud hospital. A’s primary physician was told by the physician at Buskerud hospital that in order for compulsory admission to occur A had to have been examined by an independent doctor within the …Read more

Zeljka Antunovic, 35 years of age, suffered from a mental illness for which she was treated involuntarily under a community treatment order issued pursuant to the Mental Health Act of 1986. She lived at the Northfolk Terrace Community Center Unit for some time before deciding she wished to return home to live with her mother. …Read more