Legal Protection of Mentally Retarded People from Perspective of Medical Law and Iranian Judiciary Procedure

Since in Iranian jurisprudence and law, the mentally retarded people have not been clearly included among the ward (minor, incompetents and lunatics), their position and legal status are required to be studied. The current research aims at filling the existing gap in this field and eradication of ambiguities and doubts as well as legal and judiciary gaps through a serious effort. Having referred to the library sources, professional software, psychiatric centers, courts and psychiatric hospitals, the effects and symptoms of various types of mental retardation have been studied from the perspective of psychiatry as well as the cause of the need of the ward for legal guardian as mentioned in jurisprudence and civil law, it became clear that weak mental retardation due to the weak will and lack of concentration on affairs regarding various issues has more commonalities with lunacy from the point of view of jurists and legal experts and represents one of the extensions of lunacy. Meanwhile, weakness of will in the mediocre mentally retarded people is not restricted to financial issues and they do not have sufficient growth in nonfinancial issues either and they require more protection as compared to the lunatics. Thus, they need to be protected in the form of a specific type of ward. In fact, these individuals are at the same level with discerning minor. The severe mentally retarded people though are not called lunatic in the public should be legally protected like the lunatics due to their lack of intention and will based on the legal principles and regulations.