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New Developments In Nova Scotia Psychiatric Legislation, Lorne E. Rozovsky

Dalhousie Law Journal

Depsite advanced developments in the treatment of mental illness, Nova Scotia has until recently possessed some very archaic mental health legislation. The law treated the mentally ill patient differently depending on the institution in which he happened to be placed regardless of his diagnosis. Patients in general hospitals for psychiatric disorders fell within the jurisdiction of the Public Hospitals Act, and were treated no differently than physically ill patients. 1 Patients who were sent to the Nova Scotia Hospital, a psychiatric institution owned by the province fell within the Nova Scotia Hospital Act.2 It contained provisions on compulsory and voluntary …