Informed consent in voluntary mental hospital admissions

The authors studied the amount of understanding that 100 mental hospital patients had a voluntary admission application they signed upon entering the hospital. Only 8 patients were rated as being completely informed of terms of the contract at the time of admission; 15 of 33 patients reinterviewed about 10 days after admission showed increased understanding. Minimal differences were found between 81 state hospital patients and 19 private hospital patients. The finding that few voluntary patients are fully informed to give consent to hospitalization poses a dilemma because of the trend to give personal responsibility to the patient.