POKHARA UNIVERSITY

Faculty of Health Science

School of Health and Allied Sciences

BSc. Nursing Programme

Pokhara -30.

Assignment On :

Rights of mentally ill client

Submitted by:- Submitted to:-

Roll no : 11 to 20 Ms. Jenny Ojha

B.Sc. Nursing, 3rd year lecturer

Pokhara University Pokhara university

RIGHTS OF MENTALLY ILL CLIENT
Right: It is that which an individual is entitled ( by ethical or moral
socially correct standards) to have or to do or to receive from others
within the limits of law.

It is the responsibility of the nurses to ensure that their action promote

welfare of the patient . Psychiatric patients are often least capable of
protecting their own rights. So , the nurse must protect the client’s
rights and ensure that ward procedure or policies shouldnot violate
patient’s rights.

A. Self
 Right to wear their own clothes.
 Right to keep and use their own personal possessions,
including toilet articles.
 Right to communicate with people outside the hospital
through correspondence , telephone and personal visits.
 Right to keep and be allowed to spend a reasonable sum
of their money for their own expense.
 Right to have access to individual storage space for their
private use.
 Right to see visitors everyday.
 Right to have ready access to letter writing materials.
 Right to vote.
 Right to marriage.
 B.Legal aspects
 Right to manage and dispose of property .
 Right to execute wills.
 Right to hold civil service status.
 Right to habeas corpus ( a writ requiring a
person under arrest to be brought before a
judge or into court).

C . Treatment
 Right to get an informed consent.
 Right to confidentiality.
 Right to refuse Electro Convulsive Therapy.
 Right to refuse treatment , except during an emergency
situation.
 Right to access , upon request , one’s own mental health
care records.
 Right to freedom from restraints or seclusion , other than
during an emergency situation.
 Right to treatment in the least restrictive setting .

Some of these rights deserve a more

thorough discussion

1. Right to communicate with people outside the

hospital
 - This right allows patient to visit and hold
telephone conversation in privacy and send
unopened letters to anyone of their choice ,
including judges , lawyers, families and staff. The
staff may limit access to telephone or visitor
when it could harm the patient or be a source of
harassment for staff. The hospital can limit the
times when phone calls are made and when
visitors can enter the facility.

2. Right to keep personal items

- The patient may bring clothing and personal
items to the hospital taking into consideration
the amount of storage space available . If the
patient bring something of value to the hospital ,
the staff should place it in the hospital safe or
should provide safe environment and they
should take dangerous object away from
patients.

3. Right to enter into legal contracts

- A client maintains his /her legal rights as a
citizen . Thus , if an adult , the client has right to
vote , get married sign for mortage , write a
personal financial affairs clients who have legal
 charges pending must be informed that their
medical record may be requested by court.

4. Right to habeas corpus

- If a person is being held in hospital against his or
her will , he/she may apply for a writ of habeas
corpus . A writ of habeas corpus has the purpose
of requiring an immediate court hearing to
determine a person’s sanity . If a person is
declared sane then he/she must be released
form the institution immediately .

5. Right to informed consent

 Consent is a person’s agreement to an act that will affect
his/her body or disclosure of information about himself or
herself . There are mainly four types of consent.
i) Informed consent is the agreement by a competent
person who has been given information necessary to
weight advantage and disadvantages of the treatment
that is being carried out.
ii) Implied consent is the consent a person gives when
allowing himself / herself to undergo routine laboratory
works or X-rays or to take medications given by
caregiver.
 iii) Presumed consent comes into play when an
unconscious person is given life-saving treatment in life-
threatening condition.
iv) Vicarious consent is given by parents, guardians when a
person is incapable of deciding himself / herself.

6. Right to confidentiality
 The right to confidentiality implies the person’s right to
keep some person information completely secret
confidentiality involves non disclosure of specific
information of client anyone unless authorized by that
person . Every psychiatric professional is responsible for
protecting client’s right to confidentiality.

7. Right to treatment
 All people who are hospitalized for mental illness have the
right to treatment .
The court defined three criteria for adequate illness :
 A human psychological and physical environment.
 A qualified staff with a sufficient number of members to
administer adequate treatment.
 Individualize treatment plans.
 8. Right to refuse treatment
 Mentally ill hospitalized clients, whether voluntarily or
involuntarily admitted , have the right to information
about treatments and right to refuse them .

 REFERENCES
 Sharma C. , Sharma P . (2016) Essentials of Mental health
and Psychiatric Nursing , 2nd edition , Saurav & Awish
Publishers , Kathmandu .
 Subedi , D(2017) , Mental Health and Psychiatric Nursing ,
2nd edition , Dillibazar Kathmandu , Makalu Publications.
 https://www.slideshare.net>mobile

 https://www.wikipedia.org