PETER BARTLETT peter.bartlett@nottingham.ac.uk
Nottingham Healthcare Nhs Trust Professor of Mental Health Law
Reforming the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DOLS): what is it exactly that we want?
Bartlett, Peter
Authors
Abstract
The Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DOLS) are the rules by which people who lack mental capacity can be deprived of liberty, most commonly in care homes or hospitals but also in supported accommodation and in the community more broadly. The present DOLS are not viewed as a success, and the Law Commission has a mandate reconsider a the legal framework for them. This paper is to start a debate as to what those revisions might look like.
The paper argues that the current focus on deprivation of liberty as contained in Article 5 of the ECHR is insufficient, both because the law is moving beyond this, and also because it has resonance with neither the professional carers who are likely to be the primary administrators of the new system nor the people perceived to lack capacity and their families. Our starting point should instead be to ask what will have a practical and beneficial effect on the rights and experiences of the individuals concerned.
The paper further considers the advantages and disadvantages of a system restricted to people lacking mental capacity. It makes tentative proposals as to administrative systems which might be used as a basis for discussion, and proposes that enhanced use of advocates may be a useful approach.
Citation
Bartlett, P. (2014). Reforming the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DOLS): what is it exactly that we want?
Journal Article Type | Article |
---|---|
Publication Date | Dec 1, 2014 |
Deposit Date | Jan 29, 2015 |
Publicly Available Date | Dec 3, 2018 |
Journal | Web Journal of Current Legal Issues |
Electronic ISSN | 1360-1326 |
Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
Volume | 20 |
Issue | 3 |
Keywords | deprivation of liberty safeguards, DOLS, deprivation of liberty, European Convention on Human Rights, Mental Capacity Act 2005, mental competency, mental capacity |
Public URL | https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/993419 |
Publisher URL | http://webjcli.org/article/view/355/465 |
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Copyright in all contributions accepted for publication remains with the authors, and the publishers acquire publication rights. Authors are free to re-use their own material but if all or any part of published material is reproduced elsewhere, the author should acknowledge the Web Journal of Current Legal Issues as the original place of publication.
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