Accommodation Act (Austria)

Basic data
Title:	Accommodation Act
Long title:	Federal law on the placement of mentally ill people in hospitals
Abbreviation:	UbG
Type:	Federal law
Scope:	Republic of Austria
Legal matter:	Adult protection law
Reference:	Federal Law Gazette No. 155/1990
Date of law:	March 1, 1990
Effective date:	January 1, 1991
Last change:	BGBl. I No. 131/2017
Legal text:	ris.bka
	Please note the note on the applicable legal version !

In Austria, the Accommodation Act (UbG) regulates accommodation , i.e. the (usually involuntary) admission and treatment of mentally ill people in a psychiatric department of a hospital or a psychiatric institution , where they are stopped in a closed area or where their freedom of movement is restricted be subjected. The material prerequisites for the placement, the rights of the housed persons and the powers of the treating physicians as well as the procedure have been regulated in this law since January 1st, 1991 (Federal Law Gazette No. 155/1990). This replaced the provisions of the Disability Act on detention in "closed institutions" that had been in effect since 1916.

Since the placement means a restriction of the right to personal freedom , it must be reviewed by a court . Placement is generally to be differentiated from judicially ordered placement in the implementation of measures . The latter refers exclusively to people who have committed criminal offenses and their detention in specially set up and secured prisons .

requirements

Patients may only be placed in a psychiatric institution or department if they:

are mentally ill,
on the basis of which there is a serious and considerable risk to the life or health of the patient himself or others, and
Adequate treatment is not possible outside of a psychiatric department .

Accommodation is only permitted if these three requirements are met (at the same time) (Section 3 UbG).

species

Accommodation at your own request

If the prerequisites for placement are met by a sick person, he can request placement himself (Sections 4-7 UbG).

The prerequisite is that the patient is able to make a decision, ie can see the reason and importance of the placement and determine his own will based on this insight. Adults and minors of age (i.e. from the age of 14) can only request accommodation themselves. In the case of a minor underage capable of making decisions (i.e. before the age of 14), he himself and his legal representative in the field of care and upbringing (legal guardian) must request accommodation. A minor who is incapable of making a decision may be accommodated if his legal guardian requests accommodation.
The request for accommodation must be made in writing to the department head or a representative (specialist in psychiatry). It can be revoked at any time in any form, including conclusive. Any necessary declarations of consent must also be submitted in writing.
The patient may only be accommodated if the head of department or another specialist confirms in writing after examinations of the patient that the general requirements for accommodation and the patient's ability to make decisions are met.
Accommodation on request may last a maximum of six weeks, after a renewed request a maximum of ten weeks.

In practice, there is hardly any accommodation on request, as patients who have the necessary insight and judgment generally do not require any restrictions on freedom of movement and a treatment contract is concluded for inpatient care .

Accommodation without your own request

Against the wishes of a sick person ( accommodation without own request, §§ 8-11 Austrian Takeover Act) an accommodation is generally only possible if from a public medical service standing doctor confirms or police doctor that the conditions to be the patient in a mental institution according to § 49 BKA-G. For this purpose the person concerned has to be brought before the doctor by organs of the public security service . The basis is Section 46 (1) of the Security Police Act . However, in the case of imminent danger that seriously affects the patient's life or health, a doctor does not need to be called in, but the police officers can take the patient directly to a psychiatric department.

Representation of accommodated patients

By law, all patients who are placed without their own request are provided with a patient advocate as legal counsel ( legal representative for this procedure), who is responsible for representing the patient's rights in part. The sick person can also authorize other persons to represent him.
Patients who are accommodated at their own request can be represented by the patient advocate.

The patient advocates are trained by an association whose suitability the Federal Minister of Justice has determined and which is locally responsible according to the location of the psychiatric department, trained for the special circumstances in accommodation matters and made known. Your name and your office address will be announced in the edict file by the head of the local district court .

The patient advocate for representation in the placement procedure has nothing to do with the patient advocates that are provided for in various state hospital laws!

Judicial control of the placement without request

In the department, the department head or another specialist in psychiatry must immediately examine an admitted patient. If he confirms in writing that the requirements for placement have been met, the patient is initially effectively placed and may be placed in a closed ward or prevented from leaving an open ward. However, it is also permissible beforehand to prevent him from leaving the institution in order to ensure the specialist examination.

At the request of the patient, his representative or the head of department, another specialist must examine the patient no later than the morning of the working day following this request and issue a further certificate that the requirements for placement are met. If the requirements are no longer met afterwards, the placement must be canceled immediately.

The department of psychiatry must immediately inform the district court in whose district the department is located of any placement without requesting it . Apart from disputes, this decides on the admissibility or inadmissibility of the placement.

Hearing the patient

Within four days of becoming aware of the placement, a judge must visit the patient in the hospital, inform him about the reason and purpose of the proceedings and get a personal impression of his state of health (§§ 19, 20 UbG). After viewing the medical history and hearing (obtaining an opinion) the head of department or his representative, the patient himself and the patient advocate, the judge decides whether the placement is provisionally declared admissible. An expert for psychiatry can already be called in at this stage, but does not have to be.

The head of department must ensure that the patient can attend the hearing and, if possible, is not affected by the effects of treatment.

If the placement requirements are not met, the placement must be canceled immediately and the patient dismissed immediately upon request, unless the head of department files an appeal and the court immediately recognizes that it has an inhibiting effect.

Hearing

If the placement is provisionally declared admissible, an oral hearing must be held in the hospital no later than fourteen days after hearing the patient . In preparation for this, a written report from an expert in psychiatry must be obtained. Only a specialist in psychiatry who is not active in the institution himself may be called in as an expert (Sections 22-25 UbG). If requested by the patient or his representative, a second expert must be appointed.

During the oral hearing, the expert opinion, but also based on the patient's current state of health, is used to check whether the accommodation requirements are still met. A representative of the head of department, the patient, the patient advocate or another representative of the patient and the expert who explains and, if necessary, supplements his report also take part in this negotiation. If necessary, the judge must interview persons providing information ( witnesses ) and obtain other appropriate evidence.

Decision on admissibility

At the end of the oral hearing, the court has to decide on the admissibility of the placement (§ 26 UbG). If the placement is permitted, a deadline must be set, but this must not exceed three months from the start of the placement.

If not all legal requirements are met, the accommodation must be declared inadmissible. In this case, the placement is to be canceled immediately, unless the head of department files an appeal and the court immediately recognizes that it has an inhibiting effect.

Appeal

The decision which provisionally declares placement admissible after hearing the patient cannot be opposed separately (but only together with a later decision that can be contested without limitation).
The patient, certain close relatives and the patient advocate can file an appeal against the decision declaring the placement admissible after an oral hearing , on which the regional court as a second instance has to decide within fourteen days after delivery of a written copy (Section 28 UbG).

If the placement is declared inadmissible after a hearing or an oral hearing, the department head can appeal. He or his representative must immediately register the appeal orally (i.e. declare that he is filing an appeal) and, in the case of a hearing, execute it in writing within three days, and in the case of a hearing within eight days. The regional court as a second instance decides on this appeal. In contrast to the head of department, the patient has the right to submit a counter-statement (response to an appeal) within seven days.

An appeal to the Supreme Court as a third instance (appeal appeal) against the decision of the regional court is generally permissible according to the general provisions of the Non-Disputes Act. The prerequisite, however, is that the decision depends on the solution of a legal question of particular importance for maintaining legal unity, legal security or legal development. If this requirement is not met, the appeal on appeal must be rejected by the Supreme Court.

Suspension of placement

The placement must be canceled by the department head or a representative (a specialist in psychiatry) at any time if one of the legal requirements is not (no longer) fulfilled (Section 32 UbG).

Apart from this, the court must decide on the further admissibility of the placement before the expiry of the deadline set in its decision if the patient, his representative or certain close relatives request it or if the court itself has well-founded doubts about the continued existence of the requirements (Section 31 UbG).

Further accommodation

If, at the end of the period set by the court, the prerequisites for placement are still met without his own request, the department head must inform the court of this no later than four days before the end of the period. A review process then begins again with a hearing, a written report and an oral hearing (Section 30 UbG).

Further placement can be declared permissible for up to six months. After extension by a maximum of twelve months, reports from two experts must be obtained for the next inspection; the placement can then be declared admissible for up to a year. In the case of further checks that follow, again only one expert opinion is required.

Web links

Accommodation Act
Overview of the Accommodation Act by patient advocate Dr. Gertrud Kalchschmid ( Memento from June 3, 2007 in the Internet Archive )

literature

Christian Kopetzki: Outline of the right of accommodation . 2nd Edition. Springer, Vienna / New York 2005. ISBN 3-211-20801-1 .