Mentally ill persons′ rights of refusing treatment reflect the application of protecting human rights for the weak and rights for self-determination in Mental Health Act. It is the core issue of mental health legislation, which has both necessity and complexity. So misunderstanding is evitable in theory and practice. For instance, psychiatrists′ medical verdict is regarded as legal judgment; involuntary admission is equal to the loss of rights of refusing treatment and emergency circumstances which limits the use of rights of refusing treatment is deemed to be the general danger. Such misunderstanding leads to the brutal denial of mentally ill persons′ rights of refusing treatment and the extreme contempt of human dignity and then results in paternalism which degrades human personality. Therefore, it is necessary for academic circles to deeply analyze the above misunderstanding and propose corresponding countermeasures to provide suggestion for Chinese mental health legislation.