Involuntary hospitalization of drug users: a comparative study on law s and approaches between Brazil and other countries

• Autor(a) principal: Teixeira, Eduardo Henrique
• Data de Publicação: 2020
• Outros Autores: Pacheco, Thaís Cristina Faria, Fernandes, Arthur Manzani, Volpato, Marcos Vinicius, Hashiguchi, Mariana Harumi, Magro, Maria Luiza Scavassa, Reis, Maria Isabel Barêa Fávero, Teixeira, Gabriela Campos
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Debates em Psiquiatria (Online)
• Texto Completo: https://revistardp.org.br/revista/article/view/29
• topic: Dependência de drogas; internação involuntária; lei de saúde mental; Drug addiction; involuntary hospitalization; mental health law

Chemical dependency is a complex issue that motivates several discussions, especially in terms of therapeutic options, notably those that go against the patient’s will, i.e., involuntary and compulsory hospitalization. The objective of this study was to evaluate and compare therapeutic approaches and laws regulating involuntary hospitalization as a treatment for drug dependence in different countries across the world. An electronic bibliographic search was conducted in the MEDLINE, PubMed, SciELO and LILACS databases covering years 2008 to 2018. Articles published in English, Spanish or Portuguese and addressing involuntary or compulsory psychiatric hospitalization were retrieved, and information about the country’s legislation wascollected whenever available. A total of 76 articles were found, of which 53 were selected for analysis. The regions covered by the research included Europe (Italy, Norway, England, Portugal and Greece), the Americas (Canada, United States of America, Jamaica, Barbados, Chile and Brazil), Asia (Russia, China, India and Pakistan), Oceania (Australia and New Zealand) and Africa (South Africa). A worldwide trend was found to pass laws that respect patient rights. The decision upon involuntary hospitalization is made by medical doctors in most countries, usually requiring two doctors to make this decision. Involuntary psychiatric treatment still generates many discussions, despite advances towards more modern legislations in several of the countries studied. There is a legal tendency to reinforce the need to assess the risk that the patient offers to others or to him/herself as a justification for hospitalization. Brazil has followed such tendency by establishing three modalities of hospitalization and prioritizing voluntary treatment as a joint decision involving the fields of both health and law.