squeaky_ghost

"To forcibly hold a Baker Act patient for more than three days, a mental health center must file a petition in court. Under the law, a judge has five work days to rule on the case.

North Tampa Behavioral filed 592 such petitions last year. But it dropped 86 percent of them before the hearing, records show. Hundreds of patients were stuck waiting to see a judge, but never saw one. Meanwhile, their bills grew."

As someone who works at a mental healthcare facility, I found this to be horrifying. Do you mean the patients in the 86% thought they needed to wait to see a judge when in actuality their petition had been dropped? Or just the remaining 14%?

Also, did you find that the 14% for which a petition for extension remained were being held for legitimate reasons? While the incidents you documented in your article certainly do not seem to meet criteria for extension (no threat to self or others, not incompetent, etc), there are certainly patients who do pose a major risk or are seriously ill and cannot make rational decisions - they need to stay in a facility. Was this the case for any in the 14%?

I also want to know the answer to this. I am familiar with a different state and am not aware of the legal allwance to involuntarily commit patients being so egregiously abused.