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What it is

Bill to guarantee rights in mental health care

Admitted step 2 of 7 · Unfinished

It is a members’ bill. Introduced by parliamentary groups, the Senate, regional governments or citizens. It was introduced on 27 February 2019. Introduced by: Grupo Parlamentario Confederal de Unidos Podemos-En Comú Podem-En Marea.

Official title: Private member's bill on rights in the field of mental health.

Follow this law

Source: Congreso de los Diputados, file 122/000331· updated 11 Nov

Automatic summary, not yet reviewed

  1. The bill would guarantee the fundamental rights of people with mental health problems and set obligations for public authorities to achieve their full inclusion, without stigma or discrimination.
  2. It would recognize general rights such as comprehensive care, being heard, keeping autonomy, receiving full information about diagnosis and treatments, and taking part in decisions about one's own treatment.
  3. It would allow decisions to be planned in advance: granting preventive powers of attorney in a public deed, making an advance directives document, and choosing a reference person to accompany the person during recovery.
  4. It would ban hospitalization against the patient's will, provide for the progressive abolition of mechanical restraint with public records, and ban electroconvulsive therapy.
  5. It would create, in each Autonomous Community, the figure of an Ombudsperson for patients with mental health problems, with a four-year term, to protect their rights and oversee services.
  6. It would require a state suicide prevention protocol with a data registry, and state-funded anti-stigma campaigns with the direct participation of those affected.

Who it affects

  • People with mental health problems: They would gain new recognized rights: comprehensive care, a say in their treatment, no hospitalization against their will, and their own ombudsperson.
  • People with disabilities: They would receive reinforced protection: to be heard, not to be discriminated against, and to have their will respected with decision-making support.
  • Children and adolescents: They would have the right to accessible information, to be heard, and to prevention programs in schools and health centers, with protection from forced treatments.
  • Women with mental health problems: They would have the right to care with a gender perspective, protection from male violence, and support to exercise motherhood if they wish.
  • Public and private health and social services: They would have to adapt their services to the law, train their professionals, and record and publish data on their performance.

Words worth knowing

Contención mecánica (mechanical restraint)
Physically immobilizing a person with straps or other means to keep them from moving.
Voluntades anticipadas (advance directives)
A document in which a person states in writing which treatments they do or do not want if they later cannot decide for themselves.
Iatrogenia (iatrogenesis)
Harm caused to a person by the treatment or health care they receive.
Consentimiento informado (informed consent)
Written authorization given by the patient, after receiving adequate information, for a test or treatment.
Proposición de ley (bill)
A text introduced by members of Congress to become a law. Until it is passed, it is not a law and does not apply.

It summarizes the text as it was introduced. It is written by artificial intelligence and may contain mistakes: the official text is what counts. Read the official text · How we make summaries

Where it stands

How far did it get?

It took 2 of 7 steps. It reached Admitted, and today it is unfinished.

  1. Introduced27 February 2019Someone registers the text in the Congreso.
  2. Admitted4 March 2019The Bureau of the Congreso accepts it and, for a members’ bill, the plenary decides whether to consider it.
  3. Amendmentsnot reachedGroups propose changes.
  4. Committeenot reachedA committee goes through the text in detail.
  5. Plenarynot reachedAll 350 deputies vote.
  6. Senatenot reachedThe Senate can pass it, amend it or veto it.
  7. BOEnot reachedIt is published in the Official State Gazette (BOE) and comes into force.
See the 4 official steps on a timeline
Feb 201911. 27 February 2019: Presentación22. 4 March 2019: Boletín Oficial de las Cortes Generales Publicación desde 04/03/2019 hasta 05/03/201933. 4 March 2019: Calificación44. 5 March 2019: Concluido - (Caducado) desde 05/03/2019 hasta 27/03/2019

Was there a plenary vote?

We have no plenary vote linked to this law in the Congreso’s data.

What happens next

What happens now?

The legislature ended before it finished. To go on, someone would have to introduce it again in the new Cortes.

It has not been presented again yet.

Sources

Where does all this come from?

  • The data comes from the open files of the Congreso, the Senate and the BOE, unaltered.
  • Each deputy’s province is the one of their seat on the day of the vote.
  • We only say “passed” or “rejected” when the majority needed is certain; otherwise we say which side had more votes.

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