[Psychiatric medication as restraint: between autonomy and protection, is there place for a legal framework?]

The use of chemical restraint has been regulated for the past ten years in Quebec. However, clinical, ethical and legal issues, sometimes contradictory, have not really been considered during the legislative process leading to consolidation in its current form. The author supports that, because of the absence of consent and the effects of medication, a specific legal framework to the use of medication is necessary in a context of unplanned intervention to protect both patients and medical staff. This framework would prescribe good practice, take into account the non-medical aspects of consent to care and formalize the practice as an exception to the rule. In addition, the symbolism of law, through which social solidarity can be expressed, must not be underestimated.