Supreme Court Judge Dafna Barak Erez recently ruled that autism is not a mental illness and there is no place to hospitalize people suffering from autism in a psychiatric ward – this is contrary to the decisions made by various psychiatric committees in hospitals. This was reported today (Tuesday) Avi Cohen in “Israel Hayom”.
More on a similar matter
A decision was made following a discussion of the case of a high-functioning autist who was referred for a psychiatric examination following a change in his behavior after he had also been in a car accident. He was forcibly hospitalized, after a medical committee in a hospital determined that he was not psychotic, but that he was in moderate danger.
The matter went to a hearing in a district court that accepted the committee’s position. Lawyers Daniel Raz and Dan Limor from Legal Aid at the Ministry of Justice appealed and Judge Barak Erez explicitly stated that autism is not a mental illness and it is important that every psychiatric hospitalization has a clear diagnosis.”