Abstract
The article describes a casuistic case of 67-year-old Oksana, the mother of patient Mikhail, who was under dynamic observation in a psychoneurological dispensary and was hospitalized several times. During another attempt to hospitalize him due to his deteriorating condition, the ambulance team was refused involuntary hospitalization by the doctor in the admissions department. The patient's mother showed a strong emotional reaction to this, threatened the psychiatrist on duty, and was hospitalized as a result. Oksana, who had never sought psychiatric help before, had no complaints about her mental health, and who was not considered mentally ill by anyone around her, ended up in the emergency room of a psychiatric hospital by chance. She was accompanying her mentally ill son to the hospital. She might not have been there, since she was not obliged to accompany the patient. Considering the fact that her son Mikhail had been behaving inappropriately at home for a long time, had spoken of hallucinations, had committed risky acts, and there was a danger that he would commit suicide and/or set fire to the apartment, the mother made efforts to have him hospitalized and treated in a psychiatric hospital. It is concluded that the described isolated case reflects a trend in determining the grounds for involuntary hospitalization, characterized by ignoring the basic provisions of Article 29 of the Law on Psychiatric Care and Guarantees of Citizens' Rights in its Provision, and, in particular, the need to detect and confirm a severe, rather than any, mental disorder.
Keywords: involuntary hospitalization, illegal placement of a person in a psychiatric hospital, Law on psychiatric care and guarantees of citizens' rights in its provision.
For citation: Mendelevich V.D., Ruzhenkova V.V. A case of involuntary hospitalization: instead of the patient, they hospitalized his mentally healthy mother who was accompanying him. Clinical review for general practice. 2025; 6 (8): 6–10 (In Russ.). DOI: 10.47407/kr2025.6.8.00652
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