Committed to a Psychiatric Hospital in China: How to Prove You Are Not Ill and Get Discharged

The short answer

• Inpatient treatment for mental disorders is voluntary. Involuntary admission is possible only where there is a “severe mental disorder” and behaviour or risk of harming oneself or endangering others (Mental Health Law Art. 30).
• Admission for “harming oneself” requires the guardian’s consent; if the guardian refuses, the hospital may not admit (Art. 31). For admission for “endangering others”, the patient or guardian who disputes the diagnosis and refuses admission can demand a re-diagnosis and assessment (Art. 32).
• Voluntary patients can ask to leave at any time; for patients admitted for “harming themselves”, guardians can ask for discharge at any time — the hospital must agree in both cases (Art. 44). Hospitals must also assess patients regularly and immediately notify patients and guardians when continued admission is no longer needed.
• Fabricating treatments to obtain medical insurance funds is not mere overcharging but fraud: Article 5 of the Supreme People’s Court, Supreme People’s Procuratorate and Ministry of Public Security Guiding Opinions on Medical Insurance Fraud Cases states that fabricating medical services, splitting admissions and phantom inpatient stays are prosecuted as fraud.
• Those who knowingly send a person without a mental disorder to a psychiatric hospital, and the hospital, bear civil liability (Art. 78); unlawfully depriving someone of liberty may also be the crime of illegal detention under Article 238 of the Criminal Law.

The scandal: a “free hospitalisation” business billed by the bed-day

On 3 February 2026, The Beijing News published an undercover investigation: several psychiatric hospitals in Xiangyang and Yichang, Hubei, attracted patients with “free hospitalisation and free transport”; people without any illness could be admitted, and even care workers and security guards were registered as “psychiatric patients”. Hospitals obstructed patients’ discharge and arranged periodic “fake discharges” to get through insurance inspections. The report mentioned a patient whose 90-day stay cost RMB 12,426 in total, of which Western medicine was just over RMB 500 while “treatment fees” exceeded RMB 6,000, itemised as psychotherapy and behavioural correction — while the patient said all they did each day was take pills.

Why do hospitals care so much about length of stay? According to insiders, psychiatric specialties are generally paid per bed-day rather than per diagnosis group, so days in hospital translate directly into income; and fabricated treatments involve no drugs or consumables to check, making them hard to detect in routine supervision. “Skim RMB 5,000 a month per person, 60,000 a year; a hundred patients is six million” — that line in the report came from a local medical worker.

After the report, Hubei Province set up a joint investigation team, and the National Healthcare Security Administration required local authorities to summon designated psychiatric institutions for talks. According to the official notice, 51 mental health institutions in the two cities were investigated; 10 were found to have obtained insurance funds through improper treatment, involving RMB 3.4859 million; 14 hospital heads and medical staff were criminally detained on suspicion of fraud; and 4 care workers and nurses who beat patients received administrative penalties.

Why skimming medical insurance is fraud

Fabricated treatments and forged medical records all point to money in the medical insurance fund. Liability has two layers.

Administratively, Article 40 of the Regulations on Supervision and Administration of the Use of Medical Security Funds provides that where a designated institution obtains fund payments by deception, the medical security authority orders repayment, imposes a fine of two to five times the amount, suspends the responsible departments’ insurance-funded services for six months to one year, and may terminate the service agreement; practitioners’ licences are revoked.

Criminally, the Guiding Opinions on Several Issues in Handling Criminal Cases of Medical Insurance Fraud, issued in March 2024, provide in Article 5 (excerpt):

“Where designated medical institutions or pharmacies, for the purpose of illegal possession, commit any of the following acts to obtain medical security fund payments by deception, the organisers, planners and perpetrators shall be convicted of fraud under Article 266 of the Criminal Law … (3) fabricating medical services or issuing false medical service charges; (4) splitting admissions or phantom inpatient stays.”

Article 266 of the Criminal Law allows up to life imprisonment for especially huge amounts. The more is skimmed and the longer patients are “kept”, the heavier the sentence.

Admission is voluntary: the law allows only two forms of compulsion

The first sentence of Article 30 of the Mental Health Law is “Inpatient treatment for mental disorders follows the principle of voluntariness.” The threshold for compulsion is in the same article: inpatient treatment shall be given only where the person has a severe mental disorder and either has harmed or is at risk of harming themselves, or has endangered or is at risk of endangering others’ safety. Both conditions must be met.

In addition, admission for “harming oneself” requires the guardian’s consent; if the guardian disagrees, the institution may not admit (Art. 31). All a family can do is take a suspected patient for diagnosis (Art. 28); they cannot substitute for a doctor’s diagnosis, still less have someone locked up on the strength of a “signed application”. A hospital claiming it “can help make up a mental illness” is not diagnosing but forging medical documents.

Already admitted: three statutory routes out

On “how to prove you are normal”, the law’s answer isn’t endless self-justification but procedure.

• Route 1: demand a re-diagnosis, then an assessment. Article 32 provides that a patient or guardian who disputes the diagnosis and refuses admission may demand a re-diagnosis and assessment. The re-diagnosis must be requested within three days of receiving the diagnosis and is carried out by two licensed psychiatrists other than the original diagnosing doctor, from the original or another qualified institution; if the re-diagnosis is still disputed, an accredited forensic institution can be independently engaged for a psychiatric assessment. Article 35 provides that where the re-diagnosis or assessment shows the person cannot be confirmed to have a severe mental disorder, or does not need inpatient treatment, the institution may not admit them.
• Route 2: demand discharge directly. Article 44 provides that voluntary patients may ask to leave at any time, and guardians of patients admitted for “harming themselves” may ask for discharge at any time; the hospital must agree. If the hospital considers discharge inadvisable, it must explain why; if the patient or guardian still insists, the doctor must record the explanation in the medical record and sign it.
• Route 3: complaints, reports and lawsuits. Article 82 provides that patients, guardians or close relatives who believe an institution or person has violated the Law and infringed the patient’s rights may sue; they can also complain to the health and medical-insurance authorities and demand a check on whether admission procedures and treatments were fabricated.

Two other easily overlooked rights: Article 46 requires hospitals to respect inpatients’ rights to communicate and receive visitors, and Article 47 allows patients and guardians to inspect and copy medical records, which must be kept for at least 30 years. The medical record is first-hand evidence for later claims.

Liability for committing someone falsely

Article 78 of the Mental Health Law lists situations requiring compensation, two directly relevant here: knowingly sending a person without a mental disorder to an institution for treatment as if they had one; and unlawfully restricting the liberty of a person with a mental disorder. Anyone who knowingly sends someone without a mental disorder for treatment or gives false statements, or a hospital that admits someone knowing the conditions aren’t met, must compensate medical costs and other losses; in serious cases, unlawfully depriving someone of liberty may be illegal detention under Article 238 of the Criminal Law, and beating or physically punishing inpatients may be the crime of maltreating persons under guardianship or care under Article 260-1. In this scandal the care workers and nurses involved have so far been handled with administrative penalties; whether criminal liability follows depends on further investigation.

What patients and families can do

• On receiving a diagnosis, first see which situation in Article 30(2) applies: for “harming oneself”, the discharge decision lies with the guardian; for “endangering others”, objections must go through re-diagnosis and assessment, requested within three days.
• Ask to inspect and copy the medical records and itemised bills, checking especially whether “treatment fees” include items like “psychotherapy” or “behavioural correction” that never happened — both grounds for discharge and evidence of insurance fraud.
• Complain in writing to the health and medical-insurance authorities where the hospital is located, asking them to verify whether the admission procedure and treatments were genuine; keep proof of receipt, and if they refuse to act, ask for a written reply.
• If sending or admitting someone involved deliberate false accusation, report it to the police promptly and keep the diagnosis, medical records, call and WeChat records; consider a civil claim as well.
• If a family member genuinely needs long-term care, don’t send them somewhere just because it’s “free” — what you save is money; the cost may be their liberty and health.

Reminders (limitations)

• The Mental Health Law provisions cited follow the 2018 amended version; localities have their own mental health regulations that may set out admission procedures in more detail, so check local rules in individual cases.
• “Request a re-diagnosis within three days” is a statutory deadline; in practice many people lose the most convenient remedy by missing it.
• The Xiangyang and Yichang situation comes from The Beijing News reporting and the Hubei joint investigation team’s notice; the characterisation of liability is my summary based on the law, and final findings rest with the judicial authorities.

If you or your family face involuntary admission, obstructed discharge, or suspected misuse of identity for admission, contact Wang Xin: phone +86 186-0113-9509, WeChat wang223040.

This is an English edition of Wang Xin’s original Chinese article, 被送进精神病院，怎么证明自己没病、怎么出院？. It explains the law of the People’s Republic of China in general terms and is not legal advice for any particular case; outcomes depend on the specific facts and on how local authorities apply the rules.