Well that last part is a US specific issue and people have the right to refuse treatment
user224@lemmy.sdf.org 5 days ago
Based on what I’ve heard about the US’s 988, it may rather be negative.
Oh, you’re thinking of killing yourself, let us reinforce that by being absolutely rude, or better yet, time to get taken away by cops into a psych ward.
Let’s see what’s out there with some example (Reddit)
Summary: Person called 988, police showed up 90 minutes later, got taken for mandatory psychological evaluation, forced to stay 2 days in ER, ended up getting billed $6,470.
Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 5 days ago
prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 days ago
Not if you’re “deemed at threat to yourself or others”
LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.world 5 days ago
You lose the ability to refuse treatments in any scenario the emergency responders / doctors deem you unfit to make a decision in the best interest of your/someone else health. It’s why “baker acting” in Florida is so controversial. Taking someone against their will and locking them in a facility for a minimum time without any real need of evidence.
Someone calling and telling them you said you were going to kill yourself is often all the evidence they need to start the process, whether they really said that is up to the emergency responders. For my friends that was 9 cop cars in the middle of the night. They dragged him out of bed at 4am because his partner at the time said he hadn’t been responding to her texts and she told them he was depressed so he might kill himself.
Once he got out he told me about it all and I’m fairly certain he won’t ever sleep with his phone on silent/vibrate again. (He broke up with them immediately after, but that has nothing to do with consent)
Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 5 days ago
Wouldn’t that open the door to the bill being declared illegal since you didn’t consent to the services?
LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.world 5 days ago
It’s been argued for years, The section about involuntary placement was to long to copy and paste here but here is the bill:
The section one would argue unlawful is 1394.467 www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=D…
TimewornTraveler@lemm.ee 5 days ago
not if you live in certain US states and you make a threat that your are going to harm yourself or someone else. depends on the state but they can hold you for a psych eval for a few days, maybe a week
fine_sandy_bottom@lemmy.federate.cc 5 days ago
I think this kind of anecdotal horror story exists in every country, but of course it’s not the usual outcome.
There’s a whole chain of people involved in a process like this, and I have a hard time believing that everyone in that chain routinely locks up healthy people just to give themselves more work to do.
I think it’s far more likely that there are many people who genuinely should spend a few days in a psych ward but are unable to due to a lack of resources.
vzq@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 days ago
The bill is a fairly unique U.S. thing.
fine_sandy_bottom@lemmy.federate.cc 5 days ago
Yeah but that horror story is the same in Australia and there’s no bill.
stoly@lemmy.world 4 days ago
This isn’t anecdotal. It’s really quite a common response that only further traumatizes the victims and leaves them with a financial burden.
fine_sandy_bottom@lemmy.federate.cc 4 days ago
This is really reductive and doesn’t really consider how complex these situations can be.
What should police or first responders do when someone is at risk of harming themselves or others?
Whatever your answer, consider that the person is already having a bad day, and there are no on the spot cures for what ails them.
Hospitals in general are not nice places to be, as a patient. If you’re there for a physical illness it’s still traumatic.
You don’t go there to have a nice time, you go there to avoid the worst outcomes, like death.
I am certain that there are very, very few instances where people end up in a psych ward when there’s better places for them.
stoly@lemmy.world 4 days ago
People are there because their lives suck. Traumatizing them and putting them in debt just makes the suffering worse.