Περίληψη:
The procedure of involuntary hospitalization has been an ongoing subject
of study. Its implementation requires the systematic co-ordination
between the Justice and Health Care systems around the globe. In the
case of Greece, the procedure under discussion is regulated by Law
2071/1992, which designates the Police as the agent that links the
aforementioned systems together. The present study aims to shed light
upon the procedure of involuntary hospitalizations, regarding the
preparatory stage and the Police involvement up to the individuals’
admission to the on-call hospital for a mental health assessment (MHA).
The entry data of two police stations in Athens was recorded by the
respective Duty Officer responsible for each case. The police records
were retrospectively inspected and information on socio-demographic,
clinical and parametric characteristics was extracted. The data
collection took place between March and July 2020 and included 324
cases, 80.3% of which referred to involuntary hospitalizations; 17.6%
of sample cases did not meet the criteria of the procedure, as opposed
to 1.9% of the cases in which the patients eventually ended up being
voluntarily admitted and afterwards hospitalized for treatment. There
was a statistically comparison of socio-demographic, clinical and
parametric variables in relation to the status of hospitalization groups
(involuntary, voluntary and no hospitalization). Additionally,
statistical comparisons were made between parametric and clinical
variables in relation to the type of prosecution order (written:
standard route, oral: emergency route). Acute mental health
deterioration accounted for around 45% of the total data and it has
been identified as the main factor for informing the Hearings Prosecutor
office mainly by the patient’s family and subsequently proceeding to the
issuance of an order (in either written or oral form) to the Police.
This enables the Police to escort the individuals and lead them to a
psychiatric unit for mental health assessment (MHA) and based on this,
for involuntary hospitalization if deemed necessary. In 87.9% of the
cases, the individual was transported by police vehicles over a time
span ranging from the very same day to 22 days. In total, the written
prosecution orders (63.6%) outnumbered the oral ones (36.7%). The
findings of the present study demonstrate that the Prosecution order
type varies significantly depending on the causes that instigated the
involuntary hospitalization procedure. The psychiatric decision whether
there should be hospitalization or outpatient therapy also significantly
varies depending on the diagnosis. Lastly, the results point out that
the need for improvement and further clarification of the aforementioned
Greek Law is absolutely essential.
Συγγραφείς:
Chatzisimeonidis, Stavros
Stylianidis, Stelios
Tzeferakos,
Georgios
Giannoulis, Georgios
