# Lawfulness of back-to-back CTO recalls **URL:** \ **Category:** Mental Health Act\ **Tags:** cto\ **Created:** [27 September 2023 07:43 UTC](https://forum.mentalhealthlaw.co.uk/t/lawfulness-of-back-to-back-cto-recalls/1888 "2023-09-27T07:43:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 3
**Author:** ![Richard\_Rook](https://forum.mentalhealthlaw.co.uk/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/ecb155/32.png) [@Richard\_Rook](https://forum.mentalhealthlaw.co.uk/u/Richard_Rook)\ **Post date:** [28 September 2023 17:07 UTC](https://forum.mentalhealthlaw.co.uk/t/lawfulness-of-back-to-back-cto-recalls/1888/3 "2023-09-28T17:07:32Z")
It may be ethical (given the invidious position the second doctor was put in) but I’d be surprised if it were lawful. As far as I know it’s never been decided by a court, so there’s no definitive answer. But I’d have thought it’s strongly arguable that issuing a second recall basically just to evade the time limits in the Act would be using the power for an improper purpose and therefore unlawful. (Conceivably it might be different if the patient’s condition had, say, suddenly deteriorated at the end of the first recall period). But there are also arguments the other way. There was an interestimg discussion on here about an analogous case about section 5 a while ago: > [@Repeated use of s5(2)](https://forum.mentalhealthlaw.co.uk/t/repeated-use-of-s5-2/957): > > Got a situation where a patient has been placed on [s5](https://www.mentalhealthlaw.co.uk/MHA_1983_s5)(2) and in the last hour of the 72, was told there was no AMHP but they would be putting another 5(2) in place. The notes reflect this. In the MHA manual it states ‘as soon as the power is invoked, arrangements should be made for the patient to be assessed…’ The [Code](https://www.mentalhealthlaw.co.uk/Mental_Health_Act_1983_Codes_of_Practice) states at ‘18.38 Detention under section 5(2) or 5(4) cannot be renewed, but that does not prevent it being used again on a future occasion if necessary’. This situation is in W… --- _[View the full topic](https://forum.mentalhealthlaw.co.uk/t/lawfulness-of-back-to-back-cto-recalls/1888)._