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Duly Authorized Officers' practices under mental health law in New Zealand: Are nurses meeting the requirements of the law?
Author(s) -
McKenna Brian,
Thom Katey,
O'Brien Anthony,
Crene Sally,
Simpson Alexander
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
international journal of mental health nursing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.911
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1447-0349
pISSN - 1445-8330
DOI - 10.1111/j.1447-0349.2009.00619.x
Subject(s) - statutory law , notice , mental health , mental health act , officer , audit , mental health law , law , mental capacity , psychology , political science , nursing , medicine , business , psychiatry , accounting
The Mental Health (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Act (1992) introduced a number of statutory roles that are undertaken by mental health nurses. One of these roles is that of Duly Authorized Officer (DAO). The DAO is responsible for the procedural requirements necessary to facilitate compulsory assessment. Under Section 9(2)(d), the DAO is required to ensure that the purpose of the assessment and the requirements of the notice of assessment are explained to the person in the presence of a member of their family, a caregiver, or other person concerned with the welfare of the person. Three recent High Court decisions under the Habeas Corpus Act 2001 have challenged existing DAO practices in arranging the presence of a third party. This paper presents research, which focuses on unravelling some of the complexities associated with meeting this procedural requirement. It illustrates these complexities through a discussion of the results of an audit of files and three focus groups with mental health nurses who practise as DAO. The paper concludes that national guidelines for practice need to be developed for DAO to assist mental health nurses in meeting this statutory requirement.