Kim Hyun-bin began his journalism career at Arirang TV from 2012 to 2017, specializing in defense, foreign affairs and the economy. In 2018, he joined The Korea Times, covering society and business, and is currently responsible for embassy affairs.
Calls grow to ease forced hospitalization rules
Calls grow to ease regulations on forced hospitalization of mental patients. Courtesy of Gettyimagebank
By Kim Hyun-bin
By Kim Hyun-bin
There are growing calls for the government to ease the regulations on forced hospitalization on mental health grounds amid recent prominent homicide and assault cases by mentally ill outpatients.
The government has launched a review on implementing “judicial hospitalization,” ordered by courts if deemed necessary, to admit mental patients to a hospital at the request of relatives or partners.
Currently, there are three types of compulsory hospitalization ― emergency, administrative and protective. Emergency hospitalization is decided by a doctor or the police, while administrative is ordered by a local government head, while protective can be requested by a parent or guardian.
On May 2, the Ministry of Health and Welfare announced a “mental patient management system and general inspection plan,” which will review the implementation of judicial hospitalization.
The move comes as eight people have been killed by patients suffering from schizophrenia, a serious mental illness, over the past three weeks.
On April 17, five people were killed and six others injured by a schizophrenic man surnamed Ahn who set fire to his apartment and attempted to stab anyone trying to leave the premises. Among the dead were a young girl and a 73-year-old man, all neighbors of the assailant.
A week later, an 18-year-old suffering from the same condition killed his 74-year-old neighbor in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province. Also, a 58-year-old patient killed his older sister in Busan April 27.
Last Dec. 31, Lim Se-won, a psychiatrist at Kangbuk Samsung Hospital in Seoul, was stabbed to death by one of his patients who had bipolar disease.
Schizophrenia does not necessarily lead to violent behavior if treated properly, but Ahn had no record of treatment since July 2016, according to police.
However, out of the 60,000 reported cases in 2017, only 6,445 patients were committed under emergency hospitalization regulations, while protective hospitalization was limited only to close relatives or a spouse of the patient.
Under the current law, a person “responsible for protective custody or care” is either a guardian or someone obligated to provide support.
A patient can be forcibly hospitalized against their will at the request of two or more people “responsible for protective custody or care” and if two or more medical specialists from different psychiatric hospitals approve.
A committee at a psychiatric hospital deliberates on the need for forced hospitalization. Due to the complex procedure, many families give up.
A few days before Ahn went on a killing spree, his older brother tried to register him under protective hospitalization, but failed to meet the requirements.
On April 19, the health ministry said it would review whether to expand the budget for emergency and administrative hospitalization. But many experts point out the problem is not monetary. Rather, distorted views and prejudice against psychiatric patients prevent people from seeking proper medication and treatment and this results in more serious social problems.
If judicial hospitalization is implemented, it will be up to the courts to decide.
For years, the medical community has been urging the government to take responsibility for hospitalizing patients with serious mental illnesses and have them receive the appropriate medical treatment.