Articles Tagged With: involuntary
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Police Transport More Patients with Mental Health Needs to ED
Annual rates of adults transported to EDs by law enforcement increased by almost 50% from 2009 to 2016, according to the authors of a recent study. Of the 136,240 patients brought to EDs by law enforcement during the study period, 43.1% had a mental health diagnosis; 22% of all visits were for involuntary commitments.
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Ethical Concerns About Surge of Involuntary Psychiatric Detention, Lack of Data
There is no national database on involuntary detentions. States and jurisdictions inconsistently report rates. States differ as to what label they use for detentions; whether they count events or unique persons; whether they report the age group (adult or child), sex, or ethnicity; whether the detention is short- or long-term; how long people are held; whether all eligible counties or institutions are reporting; who prepares the data; and time frames to release data.
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Courts, Plaintiff Attorneys Scrutinizing ED Boarding of Psychiatric Patients
Patients visit emergency departments (EDs) with acute psychiatric illnesses that need to be addressed. The problem is that hospitals may not be providing those services on an outpatient or inpatient basis. If the ED psychiatric patient requires inpatient services, there may be nowhere available to send the patient.
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Ethical Concerns When Committing Psychiatric Patients Involuntarily
Hospitals continue to see a surge of psychiatric patients coming to their EDs. Some end up admitted involuntarily — and not always appropriately. Certain emerging patterns are ethically troubling.