Quote:
Originally Posted by AKA_Monet
^^^I think mental health professionals can commit someone longer than a 72 hour hold. It does take wrangling, but it is my understanding there are the 2 week programs to rehabilitate and stabilize the patient... All meds will attempted with a series of psych, laboratory and blood tests, daily.
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hijack
At the place I work, the police may bring someone to us to be detained. Within 72 hours, they must be given a hearing with a judge and court staff where their mental status and actions over the last 72 hours will be examined. Then, one of 4 things will happen: the person is found competent and released (RARE), they are found unfit for our facility and sent somewhere else, they are offered the option to enter treatment with us voluntarily and (if they don't take this option), they are involuntarily committed. That last one is the one that happens most often and can last until their attending psychiatrist says they are fit to live on their own or the social worker can find them placement in some other facility (anywhere from days to months). While they are with us, they do undergo lab/blood tests and administered medications. They have the right to refuse both but, if their behavior makes them a danger to themselves or others, we can get a court order for administering medications by force. It sounds horrible, but we only do that when there is just no other way.
/hijack
I saw this on Yahoo! News and it just made me so sad. There's nothing to be done legally about the people who egged him on, but the family...IDK, I'm not sure if the article said he was noncompliant with his meds and if he was, how would they know? There are a million reasons why he could've chosen to die in this way and probably just as many ways it could've been prevented. *sigh*