The House of Lords Select Committee conducted an investigation on this Act. Everyone can read the full findings here. Its quite an important report that has not really circulated that well within the public forum. http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/lords-select/mental-capacity-act-2005/news/mca-press-release---13-march-2014/ There is a important sentence here "The Committee also found that the controversial Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS), inserted into the Mental Capacity Act in 2007 by the Mental Health Act, are not fit for purpose." Following this, the Law Commission started a consultation on Mental Capacity etc. http://www.lawcom.gov.uk/project/mental-capacity-and-deprivation-of-liberty/ Its worth reading the Daily Wail's Prisoner of Care Homes http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2579645/Prisoners-care-homes-Devastating-report-reveals-tens-thousands-elderly-vulnerable-people-locked-against-will.html Its also worth considering this point. At any point in our lives, we or our elderly or disabled relatives can end up in hospital. What do you do if the Social Services pounce on them? Some people call it state kidnapping. I call it an abuse of power by sheer group incompetence. Last year, a lovely family met with this very predicament. The battle was fierce but won. How many people can fight against powerful institutions? Not many. I was persuaded by a few individuals to write my views to the Law Commission. I made quite a simple point. While we are all debating, consulting and writing reports or even articles like this, what happened to the tens of thousands of people who may have been unlawfully incarcerated? Is the Department of Health planning on reviewing these cases or is it simply going to sit around and hope that these questions go away. Afterall, may patients may not have capacity or relatives to defend them. My suggestion is this, if you have a elderly or disabled relative, consult a lawyer about the best way to ensure their protection. They maybe able to advise on POAs etc. If we cannot trust the systems to protect our loved ones then the public must take action to protect themselves. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear Mr Spencer Lane, I refer to the recently consultation on the Mental Capacity and Deprivation of Liberty http://www.lawcom.gov.uk/project/mental-capacity-and-deprivation-of-liberty/ and the critical report by the House of Lords http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/lords-select/mental-capacity-act-2005/news/mca-press-release---13-march-2014/ I apologise for my delayed comments. My only concern relates to this sentence "The report of the specially convened Scrutiny Committee criticises the controversial Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards regime, commenting that evidence suggests that 'thousands, if not tens of thousands, of individuals are being deprived of their liberty without the protection of the law'.http://www.lawsociety.org.uk/news/press-releases/the-law-society-welcomes-house-of-lords-report-on-mental-capacity-act-concerns/ The House of Lords has indeed admitted that " Thousands, if not tens of thousands of individuals are being deprived of their liberty". My concerns are as follows 1. Many individuals and families are not aware of these findings. 2. The individuals who are incarcerated may or may not have the capacity to understand the implications of the above. Moreover, they may not be able to fight for their rights. 3. The Court of Protection appears not to have conducted a review of the cases under their jurisdiction. 4. The Department of Health appears not to have instigated an inquiry or investigation into individual cases. 5. There appears to be very little that can be done to remedy past unlawful incarcerations. These individuals appear not to be compensated and it is not clear whether there will ever be any remedy. In summary, even though the House of Lords Select Committee has investigated this matter well and no doubt you will be doing so as well, there appears to be little action being taken to remedy the situation for individuals caught in this system. Presumably the above admission amounts to the false imprisonment of thousands of vulnerable individuals in the United Kingdom. I hope that you will make recommendations to create a system where these vulnerable individuals can seek a remedy, Many thanks for considering my comments. Regards