Detained patient wins right to claim damages
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.A mental health patient unlawfully detained in a psychiatric hospital won the right to claim damages yesterday under human rights laws.
The Court of Appeal ruled that a local authority was liable to pay compensation to the patient, referred to as "TTM", after a social worker made a mistake when she applied to have him sectioned.
Matthew Seligman, with law firm Steel & Shamash, which represented TTM, He said: "This case serves as a warning to social workers to follow the Mental Health Act procedures when detaining patients."
TTM was detained at Homerton Hospital, east London, in early 2009 after being sectioned under the 1983 Mental Health Act. But the social worker had mistakenly supposed after a phone call that the nearest relative, TTM's brother, no longer objected to his treatment.
Mental health legislation allows applications to be made for sectioning only if a patient's nearest relative does not object.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments