Off Topic — HabitableZone

Off Topic » in reply to No, thank Reagan

30 days
Mary Anne — (archived)

In Pennsylvania and Maryland, someone committed involuntarily can be held for 30 days. At the end of that 30 days, the individual will be visited by an ombudsman who will ask a number of questions. There's a range of answers within which the person is judged to be sane enough to be released onto the street.

The family can intervene and request a longer period of hospitalization, but in that case there will have to be a legal custodian authorized by the courts. This is time-consuming and expensive, because taking away the independent status of an adult opens the adult up to many potential abuses, so the law requires many safeguards. Many families, faced with increased stress because of the patient's behavior and no assistance to speak of, choose instead to abandon the patient, who then becomes homeless, and frequently expresses satisfaction with this condition because intimate human relationships are difficult even for sane people.

Extended involuntary commitment is rare these days because of the legal obstacles. The alternative is incarceration, in which the activities of the indigent mentally ill are treated as criminal acts rather than public health problems.

Regards--
Mary Anne

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