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Human Rights And Mental Health

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Human Rights And Mental Health
Human Rights and Mental Health
Are human rights infringed in treatments for mental health?

Ethics are moral values that govern us as individuals and a group on the appropriate conduct in society. Ethics lay down the foundations of how we should live our lives, treat others and ourselves; giving everyone an understanding of what is morally right and wrong in society.
Ethics give us a baseline for understanding the concept of right and wrong. Help us to have a ready understanding of how to react to a certain situation before it has happened. As individuals we learn about ethics growing up from our home, school and social interaction. More often than not ethics don’t give us a definitive answer to ethical questions, sometimes ethics give multiple choices leaving an individual to choose the correct path to take. In essence they provide us with a system for attempting to come to a morally right decision.

Ethics are applied to all aspects of our lives and society, and there are a number of ethical approaches. Medical ethics are ethical models, which are more specific or more applicable to medical situations.
Medical ethics have evolved overtime, however the oldest form of medical ethics still in use to day is the ‘Hippocratic Oath’, recited still by many graduating Doctors. Hippocrates was a Greek Philosopher and Physician, and the oath has been seen as the basics of medical ethics. (Patient, 2011).
Approaches to Medical ethics are many, but commonly include Utilitarianism, Deontology (Kant), (DLC Ethics information pack 2011), and the more modern ‘Four Principles plus scope’ approach to ethics (BMJ, 1994).
The Four principles introduces the concepts of Beneficence, Non – Maleficence, Autonomy and Justice. (BMJ, 1994).

All medical professions have their own governing bodies, outlining codes of practice to which they are expected to adhere to. These vary slightly from profession to profession, however the above ethical approaches are over arching



References: DLC, Ethical issues in Health: Mental Health and human Rights 2011 Advanced Nursing Practice Toolkit, 2012 BBC, 2013. 'Excessive ' use of face-down restraint in mental health hospitals. [Online] Available at: <http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-22955917> [Accessed 31 May 2014] BMJ,1994 General Medical Council, 2013. Good Medical Practice. [Online] Available at: <http://www.gmc-uk.org/guidance/good_medical_practice.asp> [Accessed 6 June 2014] Inquest, 2004 Inquest, 2013. Mental health deaths. [Online] Available at: <http://www.inquest.org.uk/issues/mental-health-deaths> [Accessed 31 May 2014] Liberty 80, n.d Mental health care, 2013.Mental Health Act. [Online] Available at: http://www.mentalhealthcare.org.uk/mental_health_act#What_the_law_allow [Accessed 30 May 2014] Mind, 2013 Mind, 2013. Mental health crisis care: physical restraint in crisis. PDF. [Online] Available at: <http://www.mind.org.uk/media/197120/physical_restraint_final_web_version.pdf> [Accessed 1 June 2014] Nursing & Midwife Council, 2010 [Accessed 6 June 2014] Nursing in practice, 2013 Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, 2014. What are human rights? [Online] Available at: <http://www.ohchr.org/en/issues/pages/whatarehumanrights.aspx> [Accessed 30 May 2014] Patient.co.uk, 2011. Ideals and the Hippocratic Oath. [Online] Available at: >http://www.patient.co.uk/doctor/Ideals-and-the-Hippocratic-Oath.htm> [Accessed 27 May 2014]. Seven pillars institute, n.d. Kantian Duty Based (Deontological) Ethics. [Online] Available at: <http://sevenpillarsinstitute.org/morality-101/kantian-duty-based-deontological-ethics> [Accessed 28 May 2014] The Guardian, 2004 The Guardian, 2013. Use of physical restraint on mental health patients at 'disturbing levels '. [Online] Available at: <http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/jun/19/physical-restraint-mental-health-patients>[Accessed 31 May 2014] Theodore Gracyk, 2012 World Health Organisation, 2014. Mental health: a state of well-being. [Online] Available at: <http://www.who.int/features/factfiles/mental_health/en/> [Accessed 30 May 2014] Bibliography

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