Call for mental health deaths to be independently investigated
The Independent Advisory Panel on Deaths in Custody (IAPDC) has called for mental health deaths to be independently assessed in the same way as those in prison or police custody.
Figures show that 261 sectioned hospital patients died in England last year, whereas there were 189 deaths in prison and 31 in police custody yet, while those in police, prison and immigration custody are all subjected to independent investigation to comply with Article 2, the right to life, of the European Convention of Human Rights, mental health deaths have not been subjected to the same scrutiny.