However, in a legislative hearing held on February 8, 2019, some mental disability rights organizations protested the so called “Lim Se Won Act.” [2] They raised their voices against its enactment because they believed that there is a possibility that forced hospitalization will be strengthened. At the center of the argument is the introduction of the judicial hospitalization system, which, as the Korean Neuropsychiatric Association (KNPA) advocates, requires the judicial system to judge whether a person with mental illness needs to be admitted to a hospital. The KNPA insists that it is difficult to admit and treat patients under the current system that leaves those who suffer from more severe mental illnesses out of patient care. Although the Mental Health Act introduced in 1995 stipulated “hospitalization by a guardian,” that is, forced hospitalization, the Constitutional Court in 2016 pointed out a constitutional inconsistency with the provision to allow mental patients to be admitted with the consent of two guardians and one psychiatrist [3]. As a result, the requirements for hospitalization have become more difficult since May 2017. The number of psychiatrists who agree to the admission has increased from one to two, and these two psychiatrists must be from different institutions. In the past, forced hospitalization was permitted if one of the following conditions were met: “worry about harming yourself or others” or “the case of needing treatment”; however, from May 2017, both conditions had to be met for forced hospitalization. As a result of this change, the number of forced hospitalizations has decreased, but this has resulted in patients with serious mental illnesses remaining in the community without appropriate treatment. It has therefore become more difficult to respond timely to acute psychotic patients who require immediate intervention.

The most important requirement is a well-established system that can cope with patients’ acute exacerbations. The worsening of psychotic symptoms of the patients who have not been adequately treated can become a serious threat to not only the patients themselves but also to the community. Social systems are needed to effectively overcome acute crises and protect patients and the community. The human rights of people with mental illness are important but, more importantly, we need to ensure that mentally ill patients who remain in society do not lose their humanity. The human rights of patients with severe mental illnesses can be maintained by the recovery of their self-determination ability and of their humanity through appropriate treatment rather than by respecting their pathological self-determination.

Those who insist on the human rights of psychiatric patients who oppose forced hospitalization are overlooking the fact that admission is not intended to limit the rights of the patients but to treat their psychotic symptoms. Modern psychiatry, unlike that of the past, can treat a patient’s acute psychotic symptoms significantly more successfully. It is also a way for patients to recover their true human rights through improved morbidity and recovery of their humanity.