Representing Clients Held Against Their Will In Mental Hospitals
An attorney can make a difference in the life of a client under an involuntary hold In California, the mentally ill may be held for a limited period of time for treatment against their will if their mental illness causes them to be dangerous to themselves or others or leaves them “gravely disabled.” The Lanterman Petris Short Act, codified at Welfare and Institutions Code Sections 5100 et seq., permits the police to arrest, and doctors to confine, a person against his or her will for treatment of a mental disorder. One of the purposes of the act is to prevent the indefinite involuntary commitment of mentally disordered persons. Forced confinement in a mental institution is a denial of the fundamental right of clients to physical liberty, something that is guaranteed to all citizens of the United States. As the U.S. Supreme Court reasoned in its opinion in O'Connor..