{"id":4725,"date":"2025-07-10T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-10T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cchrstl.org\/wordpress\/?p=4725"},"modified":"2025-07-09T12:08:42","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T17:08:42","slug":"new-report-reveals-involuntary-commitment-in-north-carolina-hospital-emergency-departments-is-overused-misused-and-harmful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cchrstl.org\/wordpress\/2025\/07\/10\/new-report-reveals-involuntary-commitment-in-north-carolina-hospital-emergency-departments-is-overused-misused-and-harmful\/","title":{"rendered":"New Report Reveals Involuntary Commitment in North Carolina Hospital Emergency Departments is Overused, Misused, and Harmful"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/em>Report finds individuals held against their will for mental health conditions may not be given due process for extended periods of time, may be subjected to abusive treatment while detained, and may endure serious disruptions to their lives.<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

by\u00a0\u00a0CCHR National Affairs Office<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A troubling new report details traumatic and disturbing experiences of people held against their will in hospital emergency departments in North Carolina under state law allowing involuntary detention of individuals deemed a danger to themselves or others and in need of treatment.  This civil process, meant to be a last resort, has become a convenient option, or \u201ceasy button,\u201d according to a psychiatrist quoted in the  report<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Entitled \u201cInvoluntary Commitment in NC: Overused, Misused, and Harmful,\u201d the report is the result of more than a year of investigation by Disability Rights North Carolina (DRNC) into the real-life impact of the use of the state\u2019s involuntary commitment law.  DRNC is North Carolina\u2019s federally-mandated Protection and Advocacy (P&A) organization, one of 57 P&As across the country, charged by Congress with advocating for the legal rights of people with disabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DRNC leads off its report with its overarching finding: \u201cWhat was once meant to be a narrowly applied intervention has devolved into a widespread, expensive, wasteful, and abusive practice that is failing those it purports to help.\u201d  It further characterizes the involuntary commitment process as \u201ca deeply flawed system that causes lasting harm instead of delivering help.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The organization found that individuals are detained in hospital emergency rooms without access to legal representation, often for days, weeks, or even months, while waiting for an available bed and psychiatric evaluation at a psychiatric facility.  While being detained, \u201cindividuals \u2013 including some young children \u2013 are subjected to strip searches, physical restraints, forced medication\u201d and, when being transported to a psychiatric facility, may be placed in handcuffs and shackles, according to the report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further criticizing the process, DRNC reports that the involuntary commitment process \u201coften excludes family members and guardians from decisions\u201d being made about the individuals being held, and that the detentions can result in job loss, financial hardship, and other disruption to lives.  After an involuntary commitment, a person cannot legally own a firearm or engage in hunting, recreational shooting, or gun collecting, and may be disqualified from serving in the military, law enforcement, or on a jury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report notes that \u201csome magistrates issue custody orders for IVC [involuntary commitment] without understanding the legal criteria and defer to people requesting the IVC, resulting in people wrongfully being taken into custody by law enforcement for an examination at an ED [emergency department].\u201d  The report goes on to say that \u201cnursing homes and assisted living facilities misuse the IVC process to \u2018dump\u2019 people with dementia and that spouses and domestic partners misuse the IVC process as a means of control.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DRNC sees a positive trend in the growing number of alternative community sources of help for individuals under emotional stress.  \u201cSome enlightened community leaders are innovating creative solutions to support healing in their communities and keep people out of crisis,\u201d DRNC reports.  The organization calls for an urgent expansion of, and support for, alternative care that is \u201ceffective, humane, and recovery-focused.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2023, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) jointly issued new guidance<\/a> calling on U.N. member nations to end involuntary mental health practices.  Explaining their stance, they wrote: \u201cA growing body of evidence sets out how coercive practices negatively impact physical and mental health, often compounding a person\u2019s existing condition while alienating them from their support systems.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WHO also stated, in earlier guidance issued in 2021, that its opposition to involuntary mental health treatment extends even to those experiencing acute mental distress. WHO  wrote<\/a> that individuals in mental health crisis \u201care at a heightened risk of their human rights being violated, including through forced admissions and treatment\u2026. These practices have been shown to be harmful to people\u2019s mental, emotional and physical health, sometimes leading to death.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recent research supports WHO\u2019s position, indicating that overall, forced hospitalization for mental health treatment not only does not benefit<\/a> patients\u2019 mental health condition or reduce their risk of suicide, but potentially increases the risk of  suicide attempts<\/a>  after release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still other research has revealed racial disparities in the use of involuntary commitment.  A recent  study<\/a>  in Boston found that among individuals for whom requests were made under Massachusetts law to transport them against their will for psychiatric evaluation, 41% were for individuals identified as Black or African American, although this racial group comprises only 23% of Boston\u2019s population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) continues to be a global leader in the fight to eliminate coercive and abusive mental health practices, including involuntary detention, seclusion, restraints, forced drugging, and electroshock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Report finds individuals held against their will for mental health conditions may not be given due process for extended periods of time, may be subjected to abusive treatment while detained, and may endure serious disruptions to their lives. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Report finds individuals held against their will for mental health conditions may not be given due process for extended periods of time, may be subjected to abusive treatment while detained, and may endure serious disruptions to their lives.","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[29,154,64,241,113,21,207],"class_list":["post-4725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-big-muddy-river-newsletter","tag-abuse","tag-coercive-psychiatry","tag-involuntary-commitment","tag-north-carolina","tag-racism","tag-suicide","tag-who"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6NMpC-1ed","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cchrstl.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cchrstl.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cchrstl.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cchrstl.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cchrstl.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4725"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cchrstl.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4725\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cchrstl.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cchrstl.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cchrstl.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}