**% "ability to understand"?
We still have brains!
That was my first thought and I agree with you for most people even with severe mental health problems, however I think it is worth understanding that someone who was very very ill at that moment in time, e.g hallucinating, incoherent, extremely paranoid might not actually be capable of fully understanding at that time.
Why do you still think there should be asylums Tiff? I'm sure you know what went on in those places.
I resented this comment though:
Today, most mental patients, or service users as they are now called,