Law 26.657 on Mental Health, enacted in 2010 and regulated by decree in 2013, fundamentally transformed Argentina's legal framework in this area. It established a model grounded in respect for human rights, the presumption of legal capacity, the exceptional and restrictive nature of hospitalisation, the prioritisation of community-based care over institutional psychiatric facilities, and a system of mandatory judicial oversight of involuntary hospitalisations. It forms part of a policy framework anchored in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (Law 26.378), which has held constitutional status since 2014.
Legal practice in the field of mental health spans multiple dimensions: oversight of hospitalisation, enforcement of coverage entitlements, defence of patient rights, coordination with families, hospital discharge, deinstitutionalisation, substitute care arrangements, addiction cases (which Law 26.657 includes within the scope of mental health), and legal capacity.
This is the general rule. A patient with capacity to consent requests or accepts hospitalisation. Consent may be withdrawn at any time, unless grounds for involuntary hospitalisation arise.
An exceptional measure. It requires a certain and imminent risk to the person or to third parties, assessed by an interdisciplinary team. It must be reported to the competent court within a maximum of 10 hours. It is subject to periodic judicial review (every 30 days) and mandatory public defence of the patient. It is reviewable and must cease once the grounds for it have disappeared.
Indefinite hospitalisation is contrary to law. Discharge must be active and planned, with community-based substitute care arrangements in place.
The patient has the right to receive comprehensive healthcare and social assistance, to treatments that are as non-restrictive as possible, to receive information about their condition and treatment, not to be identified by their diagnosis, to privacy, to communicate with their family, not to be subjected to research without consent, and to receive public defence in the event of involuntary hospitalisation. Legal capacity is presumed; restrictions are exceptional and must be judicially ordered (Articles 31 to 50 of the Civil and Commercial Code).
The PMO (Mandatory Medical Program) covers mental health services: psychotherapy (subject to annual caps that have been litigated), psychiatry, inpatient care, day hospital, and community care arrangements. Where disability arises from a mental health condition, Law 24.901 also applies. Arbitrary coverage restrictions are challengeable by way of amparo proceedings. Addiction disorders are covered by Law 26.657 and must receive coverage within that framework.