How do you challenge a decision to restrict communication with the outside world and, if necessary, request compensation?
Any decision to restrict your communication with the outside world must be made by a doctor. If you believe that this prohibition was not necessary in your situation, or that it was applied too restrictively or for too long a time, you should challenge the decision of the doctor according to the procedure explained in the Medical Treatment Law, which is as follows:
Step 1 — Challenge to the health care institution
You can challenge the decision of the doctor with the head of the mental health care institution within one month. The head of the mental health care institution has to consider your complaint within seven days.
Step 2 — Appeal to the Health Inspectorate
If you disagree with the decision of the head of the mental health care institution, you can appeal it to the Health Inspectorate within one month. The Health Inspectorate has to consider your complaint within twenty days.
Step 3 — Appeal to the court
If you disagree with the decision of the Health Inspectorate, you can appeal this decision to a court of general jurisdiction within one month. You cannot appeal the decision issued by the court.
Compensation
You have the right to compensation if the restriction on communication has been applied unlawfully.
If you wish to seek compensation for an unlawful decision made by a doctor or the head of the hospital, you should initially turn to the administration of the hospital and ask if they would like to settle the dispute out of court.
If such a settlement is not possible, you should submit a compensation claim against the hospital to a court of general jurisdiction (civil court). Remember, that civil proceedings are complex and the court will ask for evidence that the violation of your rights indeed occurred. You will have to gather this evidence yourself. In such a case, the decision of the Health Inspectorate that your rights were violated could, for example, be very important evidence.
A violation of your rights by a decision of the Health Inspectorate may occur where it could have cancelled the restrictions on your communication but it did not. As a result, the restrictions on communication were continued. If the Health Inspectorate did not find a violation when you appealed the decision of the hospital, but the decision of the Health Inspectorate was later quashed by a court, you can seek compensation for a violation of your rights.
In this case, you should submit the claim for compensation to the Health Inspectorate itself. The order for how to submit the application and how it will be considered is explained in the Law on the Compensation of Damages Caused by the State Institutions.