Anorexia and involuntary commitment: A necessary approach?

Abstract

This article examines the issues surrounding the involuntary detention and treatment of individuals with anorexia nervosa within Victoria The current legislative scheme as evident in the Mental Health Act 1986 (Vic), which permits detention and coercive treatment is a broad approach which may contravene human rights principles such as the right to refuse medical treatment. The provisions of the Act enable coercive treatment even where the individual may be competent While anorexia is a serious mental illness, evidence, indicates that lengthy hospitalisation and coercive treatment may be detrimental to sufferers and should only be utilised as a last resort to prevent death or serious physical consequences. This is further supported by current psychological, socio‐cultural and gender‐centred theories of the disorder. The Victorian approach is used as a point of comparison with that in other jurisdictions where a range of legislative and common law mechanisms are utilised to determine competency and to facilitate coercive treatment. It is argued that the discourses of medicine and law should combine to promote more active participation in treatment decisions by sufferers, higher standards for determinations of incapacity, only utilising coercive measures once other avenues for treatment have been exhausted.