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{{Dial-A-Law TOC|expanded = health}}
Anyone who wants psychiatric help can ask to be admitted to hospital for psychiatric treatment. The BC ''Mental Health Act '' also allows authorities to send people to hospital even if they don’t want to go. This script explains both cases.
==Voluntary admission to hospital==
Anyone 16 years of age or older can ask to be admitted for treatment to a psychiatric unit in a general hospital or a psychiatric hospital in British Columbia. If a doctor who examines that person and believes the person needs psychiatric treatment, that person can be admitted hospital. People under the age of 16 need a parent or guardian to apply on their behalf.
Hospitals can only treat voluntary patients if the patient consents to the specific treatment. If they are incapable of consenting, someone else can act as a temporary substitute decision maker (a “TDSM”) to consent for them. In order of priority, a TDSM could be their spouse, child, parent, brother, sister, grandparent, grandchild, any other person related to them by birth or adoption, a close friend, or a person immediately related to them by marriage. The TSDM must be at least 19 years old, must get along with the patient, and must have been in contact with the patient in the past 12 months.
The decision maker could also be the adult’s representative or committee. Consult script [[Adults and Consent to Medical Care (Script 428)|428 ]] on “Adults and Consent to Medical Care”, for details on consenting to medical treatment and substitute consent. Also consult script [[Committeeship (Script 426)|426 ]] on “Committeeship”, and script [[Power of Attorney and Representation Agreements (Script 180)|180 ]] on “Power of Attorney and Representation Agreements”.
==What if a voluntary patient wants to leave the hospital?==
To leave a hospital, voluntary patients need only inform the nursing staff that they wish to be discharged, and in most cases that person will be free to leave. However, the hospital may ask the person to sign a “Discharge against Medical Advice” form.
==Involuntary admission to hospital==
The rules for hospitalizing a person against that person’s will are stricter. A person can become an involuntary patient via a doctor’s certificate or via court order. As well, the police can take a person to hospital in an emergency—discussed later in this script.
While a voluntary patient may be admitted to any hospital with psychiatric services, involuntary patients can be admitted only to certain hospitals in BC. If a hospital doesn’t have a bed available, they may not be able to admit the person. In that case, the person would be sent, under supervision, to another hospital that has room.
This is the most common way people are hospitalized against their will. A doctor who believes a person has a mental disorder, as defined in the Mental Health Act, can complete a certificate to admit the person to hospital, even if that person doesn’t want to be hospitalized or treated. However, the doctor must believe the person needs to be hospitalized for psychiatric treatment, to prevent substantial mental or physical decline, or to protect that person or others. The suspected mental disorder must seriously impair the person’s ability to react appropriately to their environment or to get along with others, though the person does not have to be dangerous to others to be admitted involuntarily.
===#2. Court order===
Anyone, including family members and neighbours, who reasonably believes a person has a mental disorder that requires hospitalization for the safety of that person or others can apply to the court for an order to have that person hospitalized. Also, the court can issue a warrant that allows the police to take the person to hospital for assessment.