Should psychiatric hospital patients be permitted to have sex?
June 27, 2008 Hospital, Human rights, News 1 CommentPosted by Harlan Spector June 25, 2008 21:00PM
A Cuyahoga County court case involving a patient who had multiple sex partners at a psychiatric hospital highlights what one lawyer called “one of the most threatening issues” facing mental health officials.
Sexual hookups at mental hospitals are to some, a right, but to others, an outrage.
Should sex be allowed? How do hospitals decide whether a mentally ill patient has the capacity to consent? How do they police against coerced sex? How do they provide for safe sex practices?
It may be inevitable that patients engage in sexual relations, particularly in state hospitals where they may live for months or years. But it represents a clinical and legal minefield.