Respect for the privacy of the patient in a psychiatric hospital - legal, ethical and social context

The Mental Health Act, which has been in force in Poland for 15 years, is described by experts on the subject as a legal act that clearly guarantees respect for the rights and freedoms of a mentally ill person. The aforementioned Act does not exhaust the issue of protecting the rights of a patient treated for mental disorders. Neither the aforementioned Act nor other acts relating to patient rights address the subject of the patient's right to respect for his or her privacy. This topic is important insofar as the staff of a psychiatric hospital, often referred to as a total institution, must interfere with the patient's privacy in order to protect, among other things, public safety. Numerous legal and ethical dilemmas therefore arise in the course of treatment. These dilemmas are not solved by official state laws. Intra-hospital rules and regulations attempt to do so, but this can lead to numerous conflicts between patient and staff. Therefore, when addressing the topic of the patient's right to privacy in a psychiatric hospital, it is worth answering the following questions: what does the protection of the patient's right to respect for his or her private life look like in Polish law? When does the staff, often without statutory references, have the right to interfere with the right in question? Finally, it seems reasonable to mention the potential social consequences of the violation and respect of the patient's right to privacy by the staff.https://journals.viamedica.pl/forum_medycyny_rodzinnej/article/viewFile/10053/8554