Cage Beds: Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment in Four EU Accession Countries

This report shows that in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia, cage beds are routinely used to varying degrees:

  • To restrain people with severe intellectual disabilities who exhibit ‘challenging’ or ‘difficult’ behavior, sometimes for years;
  • To restrain elderly people with dementia;
  • To restrain psychiatric patients (in conjunction with chemical restraint);
  • As a form of punishment or threat of punishment.

The rationalizations used to justify the continued use of cage beds to restrain people in psychiatric hospitals, which are under the authority of the Ministry of Health of each country, show a resistance to change on the part of the psychiatric establishment and deference to medical opinion on the part of policy-makers, content to maintain the status quo.

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Uploaded on: Apr 24, 2015
Last Updated: Dec 04, 2015
Issues: Disability Rights, Governance, Accountability & Transparency, Health Tool Type: Reports / Research Method: Research Languages: English Regions: Europe