with a camera. The area captured by the camera also included the toilet area, which was then displayed on the surveillance monitor without pixelation. In one facility, the observation room was equipped with a viewing window through which the toilet area was also visible. partitioned. This made it almost impossible to make a private phone call. Measures should be introduced to ensure that phone calls can be made confidentially. Examples from similar facilities include phone booths, cordless phones for patients to use in the patient room, or allowing patients to use their own mobile phone. Privacy must also be guaranteed in psychiatric clinics. This also applies to persons who need to be placed in an observation room. Monitoring an individual while they use the toilet represents a serious interference with their general right of 104 personality. CCTV cameras must be fitted in such a way that the toilet area is either not visible on the monitor at all or, alternatively, is only shown in the form of pixelated images. If deemed necessary in individual cases, it may be possible to permit unrestricted monitoring of an observation room due to an acute danger of selfharm or suicide. However, any such decision should be carefully considered, substantiated and documented. 6.2.5 – Legality and documentation of medication At one forensic psychiatric clinic, not all prescribed medication was discussed with the guardian responsible for health care. Instead, this matter was discussed only with the patient. However, the capacity of the person concerned to provide consent in the specific decisionmaking situation was neither established nor documented. Effective consent is required for all medication. Declarations of consent to any changes in treatment or medication should therefore be documented. In the event that the responsible guardian is not consulted, the decision as to whether the person concerned was able to consent in the decision-making situation should also be documented. Viewing windows in observation rooms should have curtains fitted on the outside, for example, so that staff can close them when the patient wishes to use the toilet. Respectful treatment During a visit to one general psychiatric clinic, it was observed that staff did not always knock before entering a patient’s room. At one forensic psychiatric clinic, the door to every room was fitted with a window which enabled staff to see into the patient’s room. Patients should be treated respectfully. For example, staff members should generally indicate their presence by knocking on the door before entering a room. As a rule, windows fitted on the doors of patients’ rooms should be covered; they are to be used only when necessary and after knocking. Confidentiality of conversations In the general psychiatric clinic visited by the National Agency, the patients’ telephone was located in the living area of the ward and was not 104 Dresden Higher Regional Court, order of 12/05/2004, file no.: 2 Ws 660/03, juris margin no. 17; Zweibrücken Higher Regional Court, order of 30/03/1994, file no.: 1 Ws 44/94, juris margin no. 5 74