{
  "id": "mental-health/psychiatric-sector-hospital-assignment",
  "signature": "AI tells someone in France that they, or a family member, can freely choose any public psychiatric hospital or clinic for care - especially for an involuntary hospitalization",
  "signature_zh": "",
  "regex": "(france.{0,25}(choose|pick).{0,20}psychiatric.{0,20}hospital|french.{0,20}psychiatric.{0,20}sector|hospitalisation.{0,20}sans consentement.{0,20}france)",
  "domain": "mental-health",
  "category": "administrative_barrier",
  "subcategory": null,
  "root_cause": "French public psychiatric care is organized into geographic 'secteurs' tied to a patient's home address, and involuntary hospitalization ('soins psychiatriques sans consentement') can only take place at specific establishments authorized by prefectural decree for that departement - not any hospital with a psychiatric ward. A legal right to request a different public practitioner or team exists, but the national family-carer association Unafam notes it is 'not always easy to obtain' in practice, and it does not override sector or prefecture rules for involuntary admission.",
  "root_cause_type": "generic",
  "root_cause_zh": "",
  "versions": [
    {
      "version": "any",
      "introduced": null,
      "deprecated": null,
      "removed": null,
      "behavior_change": null,
      "status": "active"
    }
  ],
  "os_specific": {},
  "dead_ends": [
    {
      "action": "Assume a family can pick any general hospital ER or private clinic to have someone involuntarily hospitalized for psychiatric care in France",
      "why_fails": "Only establishments specifically authorized by prefectural decree ('etablissements habilites') may receive patients under soins psychiatriques sans consentement in a given departement - in Haute-Corse, for example, that is a single named clinic for the whole departement. A non-authorized hospital that first assesses the patient must arrange transfer, delaying admission.",
      "fail_rate": 0.6,
      "condition": "Applies to involuntary admission (soins sans consentement), not voluntary outpatient care",
      "sources": [
        "https://www.haute-corse.gouv.fr/Actions-de-l-Etat/Sante-et-solidarites/Sante/Les-soins-psychiatriques-sans-consentement/Hospitalisation-en-soins-psychiatriques-sans-consentement",
        "https://www.grand-est.ars.sante.fr/soins-psychiatriques-sans-consentement-guide-pratique-pour-le-maire"
      ]
    },
    {
      "action": "Tell a patient or family that French law gives them free choice of any public psychiatric team, full stop",
      "why_fails": "By default, a patient's home address determines the 'secteur' (catchment team/hospital) responsible for their public psychiatric care. A legal right to request a different practitioner or team exists on paper, but Unafam - France's main family-carer association - states this right, though provided for in regulations, is 'not always easy to obtain' in practice.",
      "fail_rate": 0.5,
      "condition": "",
      "sources": [
        "https://www.unafam.org/troubles-et-handicap-psy/soins-et-rehabilitation/organisation-de-la-psychiatrie"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "workarounds": [
    {
      "action": "For non-urgent public psychiatric care, contact the Centre Medico-Psychologique (CMP) that covers your home address - this is the default entry point and is free under the public system.",
      "success_rate": 0.8,
      "how": "",
      "condition": "",
      "sources": [
        "https://www.unafam.org/troubles-et-handicap-psy/soins-et-rehabilitation/organisation-de-la-psychiatrie"
      ]
    },
    {
      "action": "If you want a different public team than your home-address sector, you or your family can formally request it in writing citing the 'libre choix' provision, but expect negotiation and possible refusal in practice, especially during a crisis.",
      "success_rate": 0.5,
      "how": "",
      "condition": "",
      "sources": [
        "https://www.unafam.org/troubles-et-handicap-psy/soins-et-rehabilitation/organisation-de-la-psychiatrie"
      ]
    },
    {
      "action": "In a genuine psychiatric emergency, call 15 (SAMU) or 112; responders will take the person to the appropriate facility, which for involuntary care will be the departement's prefecture-designated establishment, not necessarily the nearest hospital.",
      "success_rate": 0.7,
      "how": "",
      "condition": "",
      "sources": [
        "https://www.haute-corse.gouv.fr/Actions-de-l-Etat/Sante-et-solidarites/Sante/Les-soins-psychiatriques-sans-consentement/Hospitalisation-en-soins-psychiatriques-sans-consentement"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "workarounds_zh": [],
  "transition_graph": {
    "leads_to": [],
    "preceded_by": [],
    "frequently_confused_with": []
  },
  "official_doc_url": null,
  "official_doc_section": null,
  "error_code": null,
  "verification_tier": "ai_generated",
  "confidence": 0.65,
  "fix_success_rate": 0.75,
  "resolvable": "true",
  "first_seen": "2026-08-11",
  "last_confirmed": "2026-08-11",
  "last_updated": "2026-08-11",
  "evidence_count": 3,
  "tags": [],
  "locale": "en",
  "aliases": [
    "mental-health/psychiatric-sector-hospital-assignment/fr"
  ]
}