Adopted

More time today to deal with the stored up tasks. Mixed in with answering queries about aspects of the Mental Health Act. Just over 20 years ago I took a paper at the University in the philosophy of law. As part of a Diploma of Professional Ethics. I started the paper as somewhat of a relativist in regard to interpretation of law, especially the Mental Health Act. Our current Act was then just a few years old, and in learning to use the Act many of us were tempted to choose a clinically justifiable interpretation over a rigid (what was often called 'legalistic') view.

By the end of the course, I had become a legal positivist, and I remain so. The law is the law. There are times when it is an ass. Especially, there can be times when a strict application of the Mental Health Act may not seem to be the best clinical course. But if the law is wrong, it is better to activate to change it, rather than continue with a problematic law and bend it.

So today, a clinician wants to be able to use the provisions of an inpatient compulsory treatment order for the benefit of a patient. But I pointed out that (despite frequent short periods as an inpatient) the patient is being assessed and treated in the community, and the law does not allow a Judge to make an inpatient order in such circumstances. 

I had enough energy left at the end of the day to take a walk from the apartment to and around Western Park. There I saw these two young native trees with labels tied around the trunk. The label reads: This tree has been adopted! In exchange for water on hot days, compost twice a year, protection from poisons and damage, [the tree] will give you oxygen and clean air, shade from the sun, homes to our birds.

What a great idea.