Ocena przestrzegania przepisów o zgodzie na leczenie w szpitalu psychiatrycznym 139

Evaluation of keeping in accordance with the rules and regulations on the consent for treatment in a psychiatric hospital 139

Stanisław Dąbrowski, Włodzimierz A. Brodniak, Stefan Welbel

Summary

Aim: The aim of the paper was to evaluate the frequency of abiding the rules on the consent for treatment in a psychiatric hospital. Method: 200 patients who were admitted to 4 psychiatric hospitals were studied with a structured questionnaire. In a random-purpose selection, patients with dementia, lower intellectual capability and those who were incapacitated were not taken into account. Results and conclusions: Amongst the 200 patients admitted for a psychiatric hospital treatment 73 (36.5%) confirmed a conscious informed consent, 25 (12.5%) agreed but according to the researchers they were not capable to express conscious consent, but 102 (51%) did not agree to being treated. The first group was dominated by women (57.5%). 17.8% of the patients from this group were directed to hospital with no prior examination. 97.3% expressed conscious agreement to treatment, whilst 2.7% were hesitant. In the second group the ratio of women to men was similar. Only one patient was directed to the hospital with no prior examination. 68.0% patients expressed conscious agreement to treatment and 32.0% were hesitant. In the third group, there were more men - 55.9%. 27.5% of the patients were sent to hospital with no examination prior to that. 76.5% of the patients had expressed a conscious agreement to being treated and 23.5% were hesitant. In the 1st group non-psychotic disorders dominated over the schizophrenic psychoses, amongst these there were affective disorders - 37% and others. In the 2nd group the schizophrenic psychoses definitely were the most common - 60% amongst the other disorders. The treatment of these individuals required formal consent - notification of the court - which was not done in any single case. In the 3rd, the schizophrenic psychoses also were those most frequently present - 40.2% over other diagnoses amongst which there were affective disorders - 23.5%, and others. The persons studied were not asked for consent, amongst these - 63.7% were solely informed and treated, whilst 36.3% were not even informed and treated. The differences between the three groups in the distribution of the diagnoses are statistically significant.