[Medico-legal framework for emergency care of a patient with psychiatric conditions].

The care and referral of patients with psychiatric conditions is a perilous process. It combines the need for care with respect for individual freedom. Knowledge of the different legal frameworks is thus necessary for psychiatric care at the request of a third party, care without request of a third party within the framework of a procedure for imminent danger, and finally for the injunction of psychiatric care on the decision of a State representative. These are necessary prerequisites for practising in an emergency structure.