The Controller General of Places of Deprivation of Liberty (CGLPL) noted “serious violations of the fundamental rights” of patients in certain psychiatric hospitals during the health crisis.
- The Comptroller General has noted “serious violations of fundamental rights” in certain psychiatric hospitals
- Patients in this public establishment were indeed locked up 24 hours a day in their room without television or clock.
- A series of recommendations for this establishment have been sent to the Minister of Health.
Adeline Hazan was indignant at the conditions of confinement of patients in certain psychiatric hospitals and noted “serious violations of fundamental rights”. After visiting the Roger-Prévot psychiatric hospital in Moisselles (Val-d’Oise) on Monday May 18, 2020, accompanied by three collaborators, thehe Controller General of Places of Deprivation of Liberty (CGLPL) recalled that it was prohibited to “locking up psychiatric patients under sanitary confinement”.
No television, radio or clock
Patients in this public establishment were indeed locked up 24 hours a day in their room even though they showed no symptoms of Covid-19, nor suspected infection and no medical advice from a psychiatrist had been given. been required.
“The rooms receive natural light only through a non-opening bay window and a narrow vertical transom (20 cm) that can be opened which allows low air renewalnoted in his report the Comptroller General. They are not equipped with a television set, nor, with some exceptions, a radio, nor a clock. Those in one of the ‘incoming’ units do not have a call button and in the other ‘incoming’ unit and the ‘Covid’ unit, several of these buttons do not work.”
Locked-in patients”did not have their personal belongings”wore pajamas and “lSome of them had their underwear taken off. The rooms were not equipped with showers, toiletries were provided without shaving equipment for men. The toilet at the sink was recommended because access to the outdoor shower mobilized too many staff”.
A confusion between psychiatric isolation and confinement
According to Adeline Hazan, these conditions result “confusion between the psychiatric isolation regime established by the Public Health Code and the sanitary confinement decided by the public authorities in order to combat the spread of Covid-19”. Locking up a patient is illegal.”in the absence of a decision made by a psychiatrist on clinical considerations”. An emergency procedure has therefore been put in place and a series of recommendations for this establishment have been sent to the Minister of Health.
“If a patient in free care accepts his psychiatric treatment but refuses hospitalization in a Covid unit”he must be entitled to “leave the hospital regardless of their Covid-19 situationbelieves Adeline Hazan. It is up to the psychiatrist, and to him alone, to assess individually whether such a refusal results from the psychiatric pathology or from the free will of the patient.
If the situation within the establishment in question seems to have improved since the visit of the CGLPL, the latter insists on the importance that these “directives are immediately addressed to all mental health services in order to remove any ambiguity relating to the interpretation of the concept of sanitary confinement measure in hospitalization units.”
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