MUMBAI: Observing that it is tragic that a patient who is healthy cannot be discharged because the person who admitted the patient is absent, Bombay high court directed a man to remain present for the discharge of his wife from Thane Mental Hospital where he had admitted her earlier this month.
“You can check in but you cannot check out. Unless you go (to the hospital), how will she be discharged?” asked Justices Nitin Borkar and Somasekhar Sundaresan on Friday.
The wife’s sister filed a habeas corpus petition to produce her sister who is “illegally detained” by the hospital.The couple from Navi Mumbai have a son, 13, a special needs child. Initially their relationship was cordial, but the wife noticed behavioural changes in her husband. He was rude and initiated fights for trivial reasons. On May 5, when she visited her sister and her father in Mahim, “she was perfectly fine and left happily to return” to her Navi Mumbai residence.
The petition said that on May 9, the brother-in-law informed her he had admitted his wife to the hospital on May 7. The next day, the sister and father were told as per hospital policy they can meet the patient only 10 days after admission. When she finally met her sister on May 15, she revealed that her husband said they were going to the hospital for their son’s CT scan. He got her admitted telling the doctor she has mental issues.
The sister’s advocate Deepa Mani said the doctors said the patient can be discharged. But as the husband went and created a scene, she was not discharged. The husband said “she has OCD and schizophrenia” and passed it to their son. “I don’t want her to be near my son,” he added.
“You can check in but you cannot check out. Unless you go (to the hospital), how will she be discharged?” asked Justices Nitin Borkar and Somasekhar Sundaresan on Friday.
The wife’s sister filed a habeas corpus petition to produce her sister who is “illegally detained” by the hospital.The couple from Navi Mumbai have a son, 13, a special needs child. Initially their relationship was cordial, but the wife noticed behavioural changes in her husband. He was rude and initiated fights for trivial reasons. On May 5, when she visited her sister and her father in Mahim, “she was perfectly fine and left happily to return” to her Navi Mumbai residence.
The petition said that on May 9, the brother-in-law informed her he had admitted his wife to the hospital on May 7. The next day, the sister and father were told as per hospital policy they can meet the patient only 10 days after admission. When she finally met her sister on May 15, she revealed that her husband said they were going to the hospital for their son’s CT scan. He got her admitted telling the doctor she has mental issues.
The sister’s advocate Deepa Mani said the doctors said the patient can be discharged. But as the husband went and created a scene, she was not discharged. The husband said “she has OCD and schizophrenia” and passed it to their son. “I don’t want her to be near my son,” he added.