Facts

Parties: Appellant [A.] against the Child and Adult Protection Authority Thun (KESB).

Facts:

  • [A.] was placed in the [U.] Psychiatric Center on January 10, 2020, for welfare reasons.
  • On January 13, 2020, she filed an appeal with the Bern Canton Higher Court, Child and Adult Protection Court, which dismissed the appeal.
  • On January 23, 2020, the KESB ordered the assessment of the affected party, which was limited until March 4, 2020.
  • [A.] again appealed to the Higher Court, which dismissed the appeal and did not consider the request for release.
  • [A.] then filed an appeal with the Federal Supreme Court, with main applications for immediate release and waiver of the assessment.

Main issue: The appellant disputes the necessity and legality of the admission for psychiatric assessment.

Considerations

The appellant complains that the Higher Court wrongly did not consider her request for release and wrongly ordered the admission for psychiatric assessment. The Federal Supreme Court reviews the application of law by the previous instance with free cognition, as it involves a serious infringement of the rights of the affected party.

The Higher Court considered that the welfare placement lasted until February 20, 2020, and therefore an approval of the appeal against the admission for assessment would not have led to the release of the appellant. The appellant argued that the KESB had replaced the welfare placement with the admission for assessment. The Federal Supreme Court, however, clarified that the admission for assessment under Art. 449 CC complements the admission under Art. 426 or Art. 429 CC and does not replace the welfare placement.

The Higher Court justified the necessity of the psychiatric assessment by stating that the appellant, due to her mental illness and lack of insight into her condition, required an in-depth clarification. The appellant disputed the necessity of the assessment and argued that the welfare placement…