Appealing Against Commitment to Mental Hospitals in the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States: An International Review

Recent mental health legislation has attempted to reduce the stigma of mental illness by promoting the treatment of mentally ill patients, so far as possible, on the same basis as other sick people. Involuntary patients are protected against unwarranted detention by new appeal procedures. This author reports on appeal procedures in England, Wales, Scotland, Ontario, and New York State—how they work in practice and how well they succeed in protecting patients against needless confinement.