COMPARATIVE STUDY ON LEGAL PROBLEMS OF MENTAL HEALTH CARE

Research Project

Project/Area Number	05620035
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for General Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Research Field	Social law
Research Institution	KOBE UNIVERSITY
Principal Investigator	MARUYAMA Eiji PROFESSOR,FACULTY OF LAW,KOBE UNIVERSITY, 法学部, 教授 (10030636)
Project Period (FY)	1993 – 1994
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 1994)
Budget Amount *help	¥1,600,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,600,000) Fiscal Year 1994: ¥700,000 (Direct Cost: ¥700,000) Fiscal Year 1993: ¥900,000 (Direct Cost: ¥900,000)
Keywords	informed consent / competency to consent / Taasoff dicision / suicide / mental health care / 治療拒否
Research Abstract	1.I studied the problems of informed consent, with the focus placed on competency to consent, in the field of mental health care, using the materials of the United States and Canada. Based upon the result of the research on the foreign law, I made theoretical studies and practical proposals regarding what should be considered and practiced as a matter of informed consent. During the process, I considered, in addition to competency, the topics of voluntariness, exceptions to the requirement of disclosure and consent, consent to the admission to mental hospitals, and consent to treatment. In exploring the consent to treatment problems, focus was placed on the refusal of medications by inpatients of mental hospitals and the administration of medications without the patient's awareness. 2.I studies the problems of civil liability of the mental health professionals and institutions relating to the provision of the mental health care. (1)I studied the developments in the American case law with respect to the duty to protect the third parties from the risk of injury by the mental patient (chiefly outpatient). I analyzed the seminal case of Tarasoff v.Regents of University of California (1976) and the cases thereafter. I pointed out the wide variety of the holdings regarding such requirements as identifiability of the potential victims and specificity of the threatened attack. I also summarized the legislative actions to restrain the liability of medical profession. (2)I studies the liability problems in the case of suicide of mental patients. I found similarities between the American and Japanese law with respect to the considerations to be taken into account in deciding the liability. On the other hand, such factors as the existence and nonexistence of the jury make differences in the actual resolution of the cases.