The Austrian Ombudsman Board is responsible for preventive human rights monitoring in places of potential restriction of liberty, including in psychiatric wards of hospitals. Without being able to go into the tragic case of the man who died in a Tyrolean psychiatric ward while being restrained, Ombudsperson Bernhard Achitz reminds the operators of hospitals that strict rules apply to measures that restrict freedom, such as restraints with straps and/or medication.
Measures that restrict freedom are only permitted if they serve to avert a serious danger, i.e. a serious and significant threat to the patient's own or another person's life or health or to medical treatment and care. Achitz: "Under no circumstances should they be carried out due to a lack of staff. On the contrary: hospital operators must ensure that sufficient staff are available to monitor restrained patients at all times and that they are trained to do so, for example with de-escalation training."
Electronic monitoring measures are not enough
From a human rights perspective, restraints are among the most severe measures that restrict freedom. They fall under the prohibition of torture or inhuman or degrading treatment if they are carried out unlawfully or if they lead to pain or physical injury. The duration of restraints must be reduced to the minimum necessary.
Every restraint must be authorised by a doctor or at least submitted to a doctor for authorisation without delay. If an acute situation leading to restraint no longer exists, the restraint must be ended immediately. If limbs are restrained with belts or straps, a trained member of staff must be present at all times in order to be able to provide immediate therapeutic assistance. Electronic monitoring measures are not sufficient.
The commissions of the Austrian Ombudsman Board, which carry out unannounced inspections in psychiatric institutions, also repeatedly find that the use of restraints does not meet the relevant human rights standards due to the existing spatial situation in many institutions.
Every year, the Austrian Ombudsman Board reports on the results of preventive human rights monitoring, including in psychiatric wards