Lawyers’ duty periods are organised within hospitals and, in order to deal with any questions arising between duty periods, a “pedagogical pack” is entrusted to medical staff in order to enable them to provide answers. These legal information and advice access points enable patients to obtain general information on legal questions of concern to them, as well as information about the rights pertaining to their specific situation. The CGLPL supports the implementation of legal information and advice access points in mental health institutions and recommends an assessment of the benefits thereof. Free Choice of Psychiatrist Freedom of choice of one’s doctor, recalled by the Act of 5th July 2011, enables any person to approach the public or private, doctor or mental health team of their choice, both within and outside the psychiatric sector corresponding to their place of residence. In reality, the psychiatrist in charge is automatically the person responsible for the sector corresponding to the patient’s place of residence, or at best the psychiatrist providing care for them in alternative bodies and, generally speaking, the person that deals with them on their arrival in the unit, without any opportunity to choose. The CGLPL recommends that, insofar as possible, patients should have the possibility to choose their psychiatrist when several of the latter work within the same unit. The Right to Privacy and Respect of Private Life The right to respect of private life is guaranteed by article 8 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and is one of the rights and liberties constitutionally guaranteed on the basis of article 2 of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 26th August 1789 114. The limitations that may be placed upon this right in application of article L. 3211-3 of the Public Health Code cannot, therefore, be of a general and absolute nature and should be subject to regular reassessments in view of patients’ pathologies and the degree of seriousness thereof. Such is not always the case. The Private Nature of the Room Although, according to case law, the patient’s room is considered equivalent to a private place, patients are not always authorised to leave or remain in their living area when they so desire. In certain institutions, all patients are obliged to rest in their rooms after lunch. Conversely, access to rooms may be prohibited at certain times of day in order to encourage patients to go to activities and communal areas. It was thus noted that in some units, patients only have access to their rooms after the evening meal, leaving them no possibility of being alone or resting. At the time of their visits, the inspectors encountered patients obliged to leave their rooms in spite of their manifest state of tiredness; some of them were lying on armchairs in the living room in disgraceful conditions, others wandered around the corridors or fell asleep in front of the television. The general rule of prohibition of access to rooms cannot prevent all desire for or expression of autonomy. The CGLPL considers that hospitalised persons should be able to have free access to their rooms in accordance with their desire, their clinical condition and their treatment. 114 Conseil constitutionnel (Constitutional Council), décision (ruling) no. 94-352 of 18th January 1995 and décision no. 99-416 of 23rd July 1999. 130