The laws are there now, and through fear of lawsuits, ETC. they are not really followed. When someone is a danger to themselves and/or others there are laws that allow them to be detained and taken to mental health facility. Law enforcement has this tool but they can only get the person in the door and the problem is it is a revolving door. Law enforcement hesitates, they know most will be released right away. They don’t want to be accused of violating the person’s rights.
Part of the issue is money; most insurance only wants to pay for 28 days inpatient treatment. Medicaid and other public pay doesn’t want to pay at all so a real struggle with that. Few people have the resources to self pay for care.
Part of the issue is the way we see the issue of Constitutional Rights and we don’t want to take away their rights. People may be deemed a danger to themselves or others, detained- then with some medication, counseling they are deemed to no longer be a danger and allowed to sign themselves out. Often this happens before even a real thorough mental assessment which disturbs me.
Current thinking is the person has to be considered a danger to themselves/others right then- at the time. If they calm down then the situation changes legally or realistically it does and they can say they don’t want treatment.
It is next to impossible to keep someone in mental health treatment against their will, and even if they are willing it is not easy because of the money. Unless the person has actually acted out in a dramatic or horrible way they are not going to be held.
This needs to change, but we don’t want it to be easy to detain people in that way yet some people need to be. Where to draw that line? That will be the tricky part to determine. The money has to be spent, but needs to be spent wisely too.
It’s even far worse than that..
Psychiatrists are often sued by the survivors and their families where there is attempted or actual suicide by a patient.
Psychiatrists cannot legally drop a patient even for non payment unless another psychiatrist is found for the patient.
A patient can be psychotic, then resolved through medication. Then they forget their meds and are psychotic again. This process sequence repeats itself over and over.
Involuntary committment will only be done by a government psychiatrist as a non government psychiatrist will never get paid for their wotk.
[The laws are there now, and through fear of lawsuits, ETC. they are not really followed. ]