Involuntary Treatment

• Mental health patients have the legal right to refuse or not consent to a treatment. There are circumstances in which a person is required to receive treatment involuntarily. In this case, the person must be considered a danger to himself or others.
  
  

Privacy

• Patients in mental hospitals also have a right to their privacy. Anything that they discuss with mental health providers must be kept confidential. This means it cannot be disclosed to anyone, including a person's family members.
  
  

Discrimination

• According to the National Mental Health Information Center, the Americans with Disabilities Act ensures that people with a severe mental illness have legal protection against discrimination in the workplace and residential settings. This includes treatment facilities such as hospitals.
  
  

Considerations

• Most mental health-care facilities have a patient bill of rights by which the staff abides. For example, one right might ensure that patients are always treated with respect and dignity.
  
  

Significance

• In February 2009, The University of Melbourne in Australia developed an international observatory to improve global mental-health-patient rights. The university's goal was to eradicate human rights abuses against those suffering from mental illness in second- and third-world countries.