A comparison between legal and psychiatric statements regarding complaints about commitment. A study carried out in a...

The object of this retrospective descriptive investigation was to illustrate how compulsory committed or detained patients are evaluated in psychiatric statements from the hospital, Forensic Medical Council, and court under the Danish Mental Health Legislation of 1989. The cases were evaluated using topics and areas dealing with the previous and present medical history, legal topics, and legal premises. The investigation examines a 5-year period with 40 cases involving 30 patients, 22 cases of which were presented to the Forensic Medical Council. The investigation reveals that in dealing with the medical history only, symptoms and treatment are of interest to the court, whereas the legal grounds are of very high interest both to the court and the hospital. This investigation raises the question as to whether the form of the psychiatric statement faces reality and whether the judiciary and psychiatry view the patient from very different angles. This requires that the instrument of communication, that is, the psychiatric statement, should be accurate.