The Ombudsman goes to the steel: Demands more answers about deprivation of liberty

Patients who are deprived of their liberty are effectively deprived of their constitutionally guaranteed right to complain. The Ombudsman, who has entered the case, is not satisfied with the Ministry of Health’s response.

The Danish Parliament’s Ombudsman is not satisfied with the response he has received from the Ministry of Health after he initiated an investigation into the ability, or rather the lack of ability, of involuntarily hospitalized patients to complain about the deprivation of liberty they are subjected to.

Patients who complain about being forcibly admitted or forcibly detained in a psychiatric ward can expect it to take 246 days – around 8 months – before their complaint can be processed. This has been reported by Minister of Health Sophie Løhde (V) to the Danish Parliament’s Health Committee.