Helpful Terms
- Involuntary Psychiatric Examination: a legal process where a person is taken to a mental health facility for evaluation against their will, typically when there is a reasonable belief that they have a mental illness and pose a danger to themselves or others, and are unable to make informed decisions regarding their need for treatment; this often involves a court order and can be initiated by family members, law enforcement, or mental health professionals depending on the jurisdiction
- Baker Act: The Baker Act, also known as the Florida Mental Health Act of 1972, is a law that allows for the involuntary examination and treatment of people who may have a mental illness and are a danger to themselves or others.
- Receiving Facility: A Baker Act receiving facility is a hospital or Crisis Stabilization Unit that provides emergency mental health treatment for individuals who meet the criteria of the Florida Mental Health Act, also known as the Baker Act.
- Statute: another name for a written law.
Why is Disability Rights Florida (DRF) filing this lawsuit?
DRF is claiming that the Department of Children and Families (DCF) failed to follow Florida law requiring that it collect and publish specific data about the use of involuntary psychiatric examination under the Florida Mental Health Act, also known as the Baker Act.
The lawsuit seeks to make DCF collect and publish the data the statute requires, including how long patients stay in receiving facilities and whether some categories of patients, such as children in the foster care system, stay for longer or pay more than others, such as those with private insurance. This data is important to help determine if the Baker Act is only being used on those who truly need it and whether it disproportionately is harming vulnerable groups.
Why does DRF need data about involuntary psychiatric examination?
Disability Rights Florida is the designated Protection and Advocacy (P&A) organization for the state of Florida under several Acts of Congress. One of DRF’s responsibilities under these Acts is to monitor psychiatric hospitals, including Baker Act receiving facilities. This includes investigating improper Baker Act admissions, conditions in receiving facilities, and inappropriate failure to release those who have been admitted. The data DCF has failed to collect and publish would assist DRF in conducting this monitoring.