The methods of the psychiatric center of Bourg-en-Bresse were strongly condemned by the Controller General of places of deprivation of liberty.
“These are the most serious violations of fundamental rights observed by the inspectors who have already visited 40% of psychiatric establishments in France,” Adeline Hazan, controller general of places of deprivation of liberty (CGLPL) told AFP. , during a press conference about a psychiatric center in Bourg-en-Bresse.
This hospital, the only one in the department of Ain, was pinned down in a damning report from the CGLPL for the methods of another time put in place for the management of patients.
Of the center’s 412 beds, 35 of the 46 isolation rooms are continuously occupied, and most of these rooms do not have a working call button. Some patients are only free to move around for one hour a day, for two 30-minute walks, and are tied to a chair or to their bed the rest of the time.
“One year in an isolation room, all 4 members attached”
The report also denounces certain renewals of imprisonment and detention measures, without any examination being carried out, and sometimes used for disciplinary purposes. “It can last several months, it’s never seen before,” said Adeline Hazan.
“We noted the case of a young woman who had been in an isolation room for a year, all four limbs attached, but who on the other hand was allowed to go home every weekend, where she lived normally, went to the hairdresser, ”she said indignantly.
A surprise for the management
The director of the center, Pascal Vassallo, for his part considered the report “very severe”. “We do not recognize the functioning of our establishment”, he was surprised to AFP, believing that it was not very different from that of the others. Until last January, no law strictly regulated the use of seclusion and restraint.
“There were no regulations on intensive care practices,” Vassallo tried to argue. In the new law, a register must record the name of the doctor taking the restrictive measures, the reason and the duration of these decisions. The director of the center assured that he was working with the Regional Health Agency on “an action plan to remedy certain dysfunctions”.
“We do not have the impression of being barbarians but we recognize that our medical practices require improvements”, recognized Jean-Claude Michalon, president of the association which manages the center.
Psychiatric establishments are in the crosshairs of Ms. Hazan, who has made their monitoring and upgrading one of the main objectives of her mandate. She wishes “to establish free movement in the establishment as a rule, [et] immediately end the confinement in an ordinary room ”.
.
