Introduction- In 1996, the General Assembly of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) endorsed the Madrid Declaration on Ethical Standards for Psychiatric Practice as a reference to guide and organize the ethics and morality of the profession of psychiatry. It stressed that all its members follow these guidelines in the exercise of their profession. The Egyptian Psychiatric Association (EPA) was one of those members, and its president was then chair of the WPA’s Ethics Committee, which drafted the declaration.
The Madrid Declaration is one of several codes of ethics that explicitly call for the respect of patients with mental disorders' human rights, stressing that the relationship between psychiatrist and patient should be based on partnership, respect for choice and the dignity and rights of the patient. We refer to this background to stress that international principles for patients' rights are not imposed upon or alien to our psychiatrists and society. We have contributed to their formulation and participated in their endorsement, seeking support from national psychiatric associations and societies all over the world.
This paper aims to study the draft Implementing Regulations (IR) of the Law for the Care of Psychiatric Patients from a rights-based perspective and to provide suggestions and recommendations to ensure that the IR are in harmony with international standards, providing patients with mental disorders with stronger protection of their rights and psychiatrists with a more accurate guiding framework for their practice.
