# 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

- **ID:** `mental-health/psychiatric-sector-hospital-assignment`
- **Domain:** mental-health
- **Category:** administrative_barrier
- **Verification:** ai_generated
- **Fix Rate:** 75%

## 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.

## Version Compatibility

| Version | Status | Introduced | Deprecated |
|---------|--------|------------|------------|
| any | active | — | — |

## Workarounds

1. **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.** (80% success)
2. **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.** (50% success)
3. **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.** (70% success)

## Dead Ends

- **Assume a family can pick any general hospital ER or private clinic to have someone involuntarily hospitalized for psychiatric care in France** — 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. (60% fail)
- **Tell a patient or family that French law gives them free choice of any public psychiatric team, full stop** — 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. (50% fail)