Temporary Treatment of Incipient Insanity

1897 ◽  
Vol 43 (182) ◽  
pp. 547-548

The Commissioners in Lunacy received a joint deputation of the British Medical Association and the Medico-Psychological Association at Whitehall Place, on the 27th May, when the matured proposals of the medical profession in regard to the temporary treatment of incipient insanity were judiciously stated. It will be remembered that this matter arose in consequence of a motion by Dr. Rayner, accepted by the meeting of the British Medical Association at Carlisle, to the effect that similar provisions should be introduced for England to those already existing in Scotland. The introduction of the Lunacy Bill to which we refer above affords an opportunity for this desirable procedure. Dr. Needham spoke favourably of the proposal, and put the matter in the right light by remarking that the essence of the proposal was the vagueness of the certificate as applicable to incipient cases, and the propriety of such a legal provision, if likely to regulate the illicit treatment of the insane now engaged in. Mr. Bagot, on the other hand, apparently prefers that every case of insanity should be swept into the asylums of the country, and holds that official information which is not necessarily followed up by official inspection is utterly futile. The unanimously favourable opinion of commissioners, specialists, and family physicians in Scotland, regarding this valuable provision of the Scottish Lunacy Acts, gets short shrift at the hands of Mr. Bagot. The result was that the deputation was advised to go direct to the Lord Chancellor.

1997 ◽  
Vol 3 (5) ◽  
pp. 282-289 ◽  
Author(s):  
Glenn A. Roberts

There is a widespread concern that the medical profession is itself sick. This is represented in professional disillusionment and demoralisation, an increasing inclination to consider leaving the profession, and the ill-health of its practitioners in terms of their mental health, marriages and use of drugs and alcohol (British Medical Association, 1992). These trends have been attributed, at least in part, to protracted job stress and dissatisfaction, which may in turn be a major determinant in the quality of health care (Caplan, 1994). Although these issues have been cautiously acknowledged for some time, the concept of ‘burn-out’ has provided an opportunity for more open acceptance and creative debate.


Author(s):  
Mabrouk Shneeb Zarrouk Nafkha Mabrouk Shneeb Zarrouk Nafkha

Medical treatment is mutual consent between two parties, the doctor on the one hand, and the patient on the other, to conduct a therapeutic intervention, which is initially the main goal of this research. By adopting an analytical and descriptive methodology for legal texts, opinions of jurisprudence, and judicial jurisprudence, the physician is free, in principle, to select and contract with his patients. This is what the study aims to clarify. The physician has the right to consent to contracting with or rejecting a specific patient, regardless of the nature of the motive. A doctor, like other people, has complete freedom to practice his profession in the manner that he pleases. As he has the right to accept or reject the invitation for treatment, he is not obligated to answer the patient's request. A critical reading of these texts and a comprehensive look at the opinions reveal that the doctor's refusal of treatment could come as a result of professional reasons and/or personal reasons. Others add the cases of religious convictions and the inability resulting from his lack of specialization in treating the disease. However, considering the concept of social justice, the freedom to practice the medical profession is no longer an absolute freedom exercised in that traditional individual spirit that entitles those with free professions to practice it or refrain from practicing it as they please, which is what the researcher seeks to explain. Medicine in general is nothing but a social function in which the practitioner must seek the spirit of social solidarity. As a result of these social views, the physician must commit to performing them according to the best interests of society. The doctor is not entitled to refrain from helping or answering the call of a patient. On the other hand, the study aims to clarify that medical treatment requires the patient's consent as well. It was found that there was a difference of jurisprudence regarding this, but it does not prevent the doctor from making obligations towards the patient. While some jurists believe that the doctor or surgeon has the right to impose a medical decision whose necessity he assesses in the light of his conscience and experience, even against the will of the patient, others maintain that he cannot treat the patient without taking his free and enlightened consent. Still others see that the patient must be satisfied specifically in certain cases. In this sense, the doctor is allowed to tell white or open lies. The study concluded that the doctor must, at all stages, show the patient the feasibility of the required treatment and surgery and the extent of their success before each medical or surgical intervention. The result of the recognition of the patient’s right to maintain his physical sanctity must also work on the principle of the doctor’s obligation to provide the patient with this information and inquiries until the patient’s satisfaction comes enlightened or insightful despite the emergence of realistic problems related to obtaining the patient’s satisfaction The study generally recommends: 1- Enacting new laws that override the jurisprudential differences over consent, define its cases and arrange responsibility for it. 2- Assigning a substitute to the doctor to enlighten the patient and search for his consent in specific cases 3- Appraising the creative role of jurisprudence in the article of medical contracting and resolving the related problems.


2019 ◽  
Vol 59 (4) ◽  
pp. 513-541
Author(s):  
Gabrielle Wolf

Abstract When medical practitioners fled from the Nazi regime in the 1930s, the British Medical Association (hereafter BMA), the representative body of the medical profession in the British Empire, agitated strenuously to prevent ‘refugee doctors’, as they were described, from practising medicine throughout the Empire. Prominent BMA representatives pursued this agenda in Australia through their appointment to statutory state-based authorities that registered and regulated doctors'. This article investigates how, between 1937 and 1942, they sought to use those bodies’ registration and disciplinary powers in Queensland to exclude refugee doctors. They were particularly persistent in this state given its government's resistance to BMA pressure to pass legislation restricting refugee doctors’ eligibility for registration. In so doing, the article contributes new perspectives to scholarship that analyses the BMA’s effectiveness as a pressure group. This article’s exploration of motives for the BMA’s animosity towards refugee doctors also builds on histories of the medical profession and of ethnicity within it.


1903 ◽  
Vol 49 (205) ◽  
pp. 260-267
Author(s):  
T. Outterson Wood

It augurs well for the success of the action taken by the Conjoint Committee of the British Medical Association and this Association with regard to the amendment of the Lunacy Law, to enable cases of recent (incipient) insanity to be legally treated in private care, without being certified as lunatics, that the Lord Chancellor inserted into his proposed Lunacy Bill a clause to meet our requirements, in the very terms I advocated at the annual meeting of the British Medical Association in 1896.


2006 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 28-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Skuse

Recently, the UK government expressed concern about the rising tide of antisocial behaviour among young people who, in certain areas of the country, were habitually engaging in acts of minor delinquency – often fuelled by drink. On the other hand, legislation was introduced to make it legal for premises that sell alcohol to remain open longer, up to 24 hours a day. This latter arrangement has courted considerable controversy. For example, the British Medical Association commented that any extension to licensing hours requires a programme of research, after its introduction, to look at its health consequences - both acute and chronic.


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