A 25-year-old man with schizophrenia is demanding 12 million kroner in compensation from the North Jutland region, due to being restrained to bed with a belt for 13 months in the psychiatric ward in Aalborg.
“It was very, very hard to see my brother like this,” said Mohammed Makki, the young man’s brother and guardian. “I saw him completely humiliated as a human being, often crying, depressed and tired of life.”.
According to Mohammed Makki, his brother's weight doubled during the immobilization, he did not bathe for months, and he had difficulty walking due to muscle weakness.
Tobias Staddarfeld Jensen, the patient's lawyer, says that the request for 12 million kronor in compensation is consistent with the seriousness of the offense suffered by the young man, as he was completely strapped in for more than a year and could do nothing but look at the wall.
Mohammed Mekki’s brother was assessed as being so dangerous that he should have been given a bed at the Sikringen institution in Slagelse, which cares for the most dangerous psychiatric patients in the country, but due to lack of space, Mohammed Mekki’s brother had to stay in the forensic psychiatric ward in Aalborg.
The Psychiatric Patients Complaints Board had previously rejected the extent of the tethering, while its actual implementation was approved. According to the Human Rights Department, tethering should not be carried out in a country like Denmark, and not at all due to a lack of resources in an institution capable of dealing with patients like Mohammed Mekki's brother, according to Nikolai Nielsen, senior advisor at the Human Rights Department.
According to the law (§14), persons who are forcibly admitted to the psychiatric ward may be restrained with a belt around the waist, and if necessary with straps around the wrists or ankles or with gloves.
Employees may not compel a person to be fixed in place unless he: exposes himself or others to an imminent risk of physical or health harm, similarly harasses or severely humiliates sick colleagues, or engages in significant acts of sabotage.
If the strapping is forcibly applied, there must always be a guard stationed in the room. (§16).
According to the section on compulsory immobilization in the Psychiatric Act, immobilization may only be used for a short period, and it should be reconsidered whether immobilization should continue at least three times a day.
At the end of February 2019, Mohammed Mekki’s brother was transferred to Skringen in Slagelse, where he was not restrained with a belt. Since then he has been slowly recovering, but he is deeply affected and cannot forget what he went through.
