Name and describe two rights of mental patients

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

a . Mental patients have the right to treatment. This right basically ensures that patients cannot be confined without receiving active treatment in a humane environment (i.e., they cannot simply be sheltered or housed). In addition, persons cannot be confined who are not dangerous to themselves or to others or who are capable of surviving on their own or with the help of willing friends or family.

b. Mental patients have the right to the least restrictive alternative. The law requires that involuntarily committed patients should be confined in environments that are the least restrictive alternative (i.e., provide the greatest freedom consistent with their conditions in terms of personal security and the safety of others). Thus, some individuals might be able to live in group homes or board-and-care facilities in the community, where they have supervision but also some freedom, whereas only patients who would be considered to be a threat to themselves or to others would be confined in more restrictive facilities such as mental hospitals. Within the hospitals, some patients might require locked wards or restraints only when necessary to reduce harm to themselves or to others.