The practice of mental health specialities should be liberalized and become license-based, such as is the case with dentists. This would give patients the comfort of confidentiality and prevent the stigma associated with going to a mental institution. Moreover, a patient would be able to defend his rights by asking an independent opinion in the case of a court-ordered involuntary treatment. This is recommended by the Moldovan Human Rights Institute (IDOM) following a monitoring of the human rights situation in our country’s mental health institutions.

“If I feel depressed and unwell, I don’t have to go to this big in-patient institution. People have this prejudice – look, he has been at the funny house. Now I’d like to see that doctor, but I prefer my health stuff to remain a secret”, IDOM director Vanu Jereghi told a press conference.

An important issue in Jereghi’s opinion is that private practices could improve a person’s right to proper defense when faced with the risk of forced treatment. When such treatment is requested, a commission composed of psychiatrists from public institutions is assembled. It then has 48 hours to present arguments before a judge. The conclusion of a practitioner outside the system could provide the judge with an alternative to put in the balance.

The human rights expert Doina Ioana Străisteanu says the medical conclusions that reach the court often lack arguments: the diagnosis is simply stated without making a point whether the patient is a threat to society. This makes it hard for the patients to defend themselves in court.

The monitoring report presented by IDOM assessed the human rights situation in Moldova’s three mental hospitals and six temporary placement centers for people with disability. The overall situation is shown to have improved, although more work is still needed to uproot human rights violations.