The Harms of Involuntary Treatment

The mental health legislation of every Australian jurisdiction has a harm criterion that (along with other criteria) must be met before involuntary inpatient treatment can be provided. However, the meaning of the harm criterion is widely misunderstood. This presentation will review these harm criteria and set out their implications for clinical care.

A/Prof Ryan is Director of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry at St Vincent’s Hospital and Adjunct Associate Professor at UNSW and University of Sydney. Though primarily a clinician, his academic interest is primarily in the legal and ethical aspects of psychiatry and medicine more broadly.