Legal Provision in Mental Health Services Essay

Legal Provision in Mental Health Services - Essay Example While dealing with the patients with mental health problems, the care-providers are often faced with situations of dilemma that require proper decision-making. The traditional approaches to decision-making that concern a patient with a mental disability involved the professionals at the central position and the families of the patient. Little or no attention was given to the feelings of the patient. The patients were required to follow the directions of the professionals and the available members of the families. However, significant changes have been recorded with the increasing needs to protect the rights of these patients with mental health problems. To make the appropriate decisions, the care providers should integrate both the professional ethics and the regulatory provisions that guide the provision of care to these individuals with mental health problems. The individuals should be included in making all the decisions that are likely to affect their health. The patients have to be guided to make a decision. The professionals need to explain to the patients all the possible courses of action to be taken and their respective consequences. This will enable a patient to make an informed consent on the kind of intervention that is appropriate. The practitioners and carers have to understand that even though this patient has mental problems, he/she still has the rights to make decisions on his or her life. The legal provisions require that they are consulted.