Your Mental Health Rights: How They Protect and Support Your Recovery
Getting Into a Hospital, and Getting Out

Your Rights if You Are In the Hospital Against Your Will (Involuntarily)

If you are in a hospital against your will, or if you think that someone is going to make you go to a hospital against your will, you should know that:

• You have rights that protect you;
• Laws and rules say what is supposed to happen to you; and
• This paper can help you understand what is going on.

Going Into a Hospital

The law says you can be taken to a psychiatric hospital or to the emergency room of a general hospital against your will if someone thinks that:

• you are dangerous to yourself;
• you are dangerous to other people;
• you could be helped by being in the hospital;
• you or others cannot take care of your physical needs; or
• a court has made an order saying you should be in a hospital.

If you go to the hospital against your will, you are called an "involuntary" patient. These people can take you to the hospital: a psychiatrist, a licensed doctor, a health officer, a licensed clinical psychologist, a parole officer, a sheriff or police officer.

Not every person who is in a hospital is there against his or her will. Some people go there because they want to. Any adult (18 years old or older) who thinks he or she would get help by being in a psychiatric hospital can ask to be in a hospital as a "voluntary" patient.

Your Due Process Rights

Being kept in a hospital can take away your freedom, especially if you do not want to be in the hospital, or if you did not agree to be there. But, before anyone can take away your freedom, other people, like the doctors and police, have to follow some very strict rules. Following the rules gives you what is called "due process rights." Your due process rights protect your freedom as best as is possible.)

What Happens in the Hospital in the First 24 Hours (1 day)

During the first 24 hours that you are being kept in the hospital, the law says these things have to happen:

• A client's rights advocate has to talk with you to tell you about your rights; and to tell you about your right to be a voluntary patient.
• You have to be allowed to make phone calls (and get help making the calls) to get medical help or help for your mental health issues and to get a lawyer.

The hospital has to give you an "evaluation." This means that a psychiatrist (and maybe other people in the hospital) have to talk with you and then give an opinion about whether you should have to stay in the hospital. You also must be allowed to ask for an evaluation by a doctor that you choose (an "independent evaluation" – you might have to pay for this).

The hospital has to either keep you or let you go. The hospital has to let you go right away if the examination shows that you should not be in the hospital.

The hospital can keep you in the hospital for up to 72 hours (3 days) if the examination shows that you should be in the hospital. The hospital does not have to keep you there for the full 72 hours. The hospital should let you leave before the end of the 72 hours if the chief clinical officer (doctor in charge) believes that you don't need more evaluation or treatment.

What Happens in the Hospital by the End of 72 Hours (3 days)

By the end of the 72 hours, one of these three things has to happen:

• The hospital will let you go;
• The hospital will let you stay as a voluntary patient (that means you agree to stay because you want to); or
• The hospital will give the court papers saying that you should stay because you have a mental illness and need treatment — the hospital is saying that you are a "person who is mentally ill subject to hospitalization."

If the hospital director gives the court papers, you have to stay in the hospital until the court has a hearing. The hearing has to happen within five days of when you were first forced to stay in the hospital against your will. Saturday and Sunday don't count as a day.

What Happens Next?

At the hearing, the court will decide if you are a person who is "mentally ill subject to hospitalization." If the court decides no, you are not "mentally ill subject to hospitalization," the hospital must let you leave right away.

If the court decides yes, you are "mentally ill subject to hospitalization," the court will make an order for you to stay at the hospital or an order to go to another place where you can get treatment. Usually, this order will be a "temporary order."

You should know that this hearing has to be held within 5 work days (Saturdays and Sundays don't count), unless you have said that the hearing can be delayed.

In any case, the hearing has to be held within 30 days. By the end of 30 days after the first day you were forced to stay at the hospital against your will, the court has to have a hearing where the court will make the final decision about what happens to you:

• you will be able to tell your side of the story, with the help of anyone you want (like a lawyer, another doctor, or other people who speak up for you);
• you will be able to hear what the hospital staff and doctors have to say about you and your mental health; and
• you will be able to look at any hospital papers or other papers that have information about you and your mental health.

If the court does not hold the hearing within the proper time, the hospital can be forced to let you leave. You have a right to a lawyer who will fight for your rights at any of these hearings. If you don't have a lawyer, the court must give you one.

If You Have to Stay in the Hospital Because the Court Says So

You have rights, even when you are in the hospital, or getting treatment. You have the right

• To say no to taking medication or getting treatment unless the court orders you to do this.
• To get treatment that is right for you if you agree to it.
• To be a part of planning your treatment.
• To get answers to questions you have about treatment and mental illness.
• To get treatment in the place that gives you the most freedom.
• To not be restrained or secluded, except in an emergency.
• To have privacy for yourself and for your information.
• To get another hearing in court, every 180 days (6 months).
• To be treated with respect and dignity.
• To keep all your other rights.

Even if the court makes an order saying you must be in the hospital, the chief clinical officer (doctor in charge) of the hospital can let you leave. If the chief clinical officer doesn't think you need any more treatment, the hospital should let you leave right away. Every 30 days, the hospital has to decide if you should leave.

Sometimes, the court will say that you can leave the hospital but only if you get treatment in the community. This is called "out-patient commitment." With out-patient commitment, the court is saying that you must accept your treatment in the community and if you stop treatment, and people think you are dangerous to yourself or others, they can take you back to the hospital. If that happens, you should ask for a court hearing.

Getting Out if You Are a Voluntary Patient

Any time you are in the hospital as a "voluntary patient," and you want to leave, you can try to leave by writing a "3-day letter" and giving it to a staff person. 3 work days (Saturday and Sunday don't count) from the time you gave the letter to the staff person, the hospital medical director has to either let you leave; or give the court papers saying you should stay.

If the medical director gives the court papers, you have to stay at the hospital until the court has a hearing to decide if you can leave. The hearing has to happen within 5 work days. Saturday and Sunday don't count.

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