A mental health patient who killed himself was put off seeking hospital treatment because he was not allowed to smoke onsite, a lawyer leading a judicial review application on smoking in hospitals says.
A smoking ban on hospital grounds including outside psychiatric wards by the Waitemata District Health Board is a breach of human rights, barrister Richard Francois argued at the High Court at Auckland today.
He is calling the proposal “torture” on the hospitals’ most vulnerable patients.
Using that logic, we better keep heroin addicts supplied with heroin, and have a courtesy bar installed for alcoholics when they come to hospital.
“Psychiatric patients are segregated,” Francois said in his opening statement.
“They’re locked in a room and told they can’t smoke cigarettes in a time they’re under extreme stress, have been hauled away from family, friends and employment.”
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