Coercion and human rights: A European perspective

Abstract

Background: Coercion is a very slippery concept for lawyers. In the field of mental health care, the authorization of coercion is of special significance

Aims: To review the effects of the European Convention on Human Rights (as incorporated into the Human Rights Act 1998) on the points at which external pressure or coercion become legally unacceptable.

Method: Significant cases heard before the European Court of Human Rights which have served to define the limits of coercion are reviewed.

Results: The ECHR has set a high threshold of severity before it will regard coerced treatment as unlawful and it places considerable reliance on medical opinion through the notion of medical or therapeutic necessity. It also appears, so far, to attach little weight to the presence of a capable refusal.

Conclusions: European human rights law currently fails to capture much of the coercion experienced by patients in practice.

Keywords:

• Social and political issues
• legal analysis