Carmen contacted our office concerned about her sister Aisha’s involuntary admission and detention at Surrey Memorial Hospital under the Mental Health Act. Among other concerns, Carmen said her sister was not notified of her rights upon admission to the hospital.

We reviewed Aisha’s medical records and noted that the legally required forms were not completed. We also found that Aisha’s consent for treatment contained a vague description of her course of treatment with no specific recommendations by the attending physician. There were no copies of her rights notification or forms related to notification of a near relative.

Our investigation raised concerns consistent with our office’s findings from our public report, Committed to Change: Protecting the Rights of Involuntary Patients under the Mental Health Act. During the course of our investigation, we became aware that there was a warrant to apprehend and detain Aisha with no expiry date issued under the Mental Health Act. We had considerable concerns that in this case, and more generally, the ability to issue warrants without expiry under the applicable section of the Mental Health Act affords broad powers of apprehension that could lead to unjust and disproportionate outcomes for the subject of the warrant.

We asked Fraser Health to cancel Aisha’s warrant for apprehension under the Mental Health Act. The Ombudsperson also recommended improved compliance with legally required forms for involuntary detention in the province. Fraser Health provided us with a copy of the cancellation and agreed to implement our recommendations in the Committed to Change report.