The Baker Act aims to improve the due process and civil rights for people in mental health institutions (including a specific amount of time a judge would have to review their incarceration). The baker act lawyer Florida the unreasonable admission of people to mental institutions (or the detention of such people in the state.
The aim of the baker act!
The Baker Act aims to provide comprehensive mental health services to those who require intensive short-term and ongoing treatment. The aim is to ensure that any involuntary assessment or treatment is carri out in a clinically appropriate setting and most likely to facilitate the person’s return to the community as soon as possible. The intention is also for patients to be exposed to the least restrictive means of intervention based on individual needs. Therefore, the Baker Act can only be used in cases where the person suffers from a mental illness and meets all voluntary or involuntary admission processes. It cannot be applied for any other purpose or situation.
How to initiate an involuntary Baker Act constitutional review
- A circuit court may issue an ex-parte order based on a written or oral affidavit containing specific facts supporting the finding. This usually occurs when a family member is concern about an unmanageable family member – and asks the court to have their family member picked up and taken to a reception facility.
- Police personnel may take a person who appears to meet the criteria into custody and transfer them to an appropriate facility in a designated intake system (may be base on statements or observations of a third party). Typically, someone who doesn’t know the individual who has been behaving like a baker notices them in public acts alarmingly and calls the police. This accounts for about 50% of involuntary Baker Act exams.
- Well, a doctor/psychologist/mental health counselor/clinical social worker can issue a certificate that someone has been examine within the previous 48 hours and found to meet the Baker Act criteria for involuntary searches. This represents just under 50% of how people get into reception facilities.
When does the Baker Act permit an involuntary examination?
The involuntary examination is describe as: A person may be taken to a taking facility for an involuntary examination if there is reason to believe that the person is suffering from a mental illness A
Due to mental illness:
- The person refused a voluntary examination or is unable to determine for himself whether the test is necessary;
The less care or treatment, the person is likely to suffer neglect or refuse to care for themselves; such neglect or refusal poses a real and present threat of substantial harm to their health, and it is not evident that such damage can be prevent with the help of willing family members or friends;
- There is a fact that, without care or treatment, the person will cause serious bodily harm, as evidenced by recent conduct. Just because someone hasn’t showered for a week, taken their medicine, or left the house for a few weeks does NOT rise to the level required by the Baker Act. The patient is identifi by a doctor or clinical psychologist (or psychiatric nurse) to see if they meet the criteria for involuntary services.
- The trial period must end within 72 hours. If the exam period ends on a weekend or holiday, the following working day is the latest. Suppose the patient does not meet the criteria for involuntary services.
When is a Baker Act patient forced to be hospitalized?
If the patient meets the criteria, a petition for involuntary services will be file with the circuit court. If inpatient treatment is deem necessary, the least restrictive treatment appropriate for the optimal improvement of the patient’s condition must be available. The facility administrator of the Baker act submitted the proposal for involuntary hospitalization. The application must include referrals for placement from a psychiatrist and a psychiatrist or psychologist (both of whom have examined the person within the previous 72 hours). The first opinion must be personal. A second opinion can be do by phone or video. The petition must include factual justification for each criterion cited, not just opinion or hearsay.
How does the court protect the patient with the Baker Act?
The petition to the circuit court must be file with the court clerk within 72 hours of the person’s arrival at the facility unless the deadline ends on the weekend, a legal holiday. No exceptions for weeknights. The patient has the right to an independent expert examination The Office of the Public Defender of Rights must appoint within one working day to represent a natural person in the proceedings whom a lawyer does not otherwise represent. A Baker Act defense attorney must have access to the patient, witnesses, and medical records relevant to a Baker Act case. An individual, their guardian, or medical representative/agent may request a change of venue for the convenience of the parties or witnesses or due to the individual’s condition.
Role of the Baker Act Attorney
The Baker Act mandates that court-appointed attorneys be provid to represent each person during an involuntary commitment proceeding. It also required people to check in regularly to ensure the automatic placement was still appropriate.
Proceedings on the Baker Act are quasi-civil proceedings that describe the duty of a patient’s public defender. Baker Act attorneys represent the client’s position – NOT necessarily what is in their best interest, even if the patient cannot understand that they need treatment. When the lawyer check does not want to be place in the hospital – the baker’s attorney must argue for discharge.
The legal process of the baker act!
Even if the Baker Act attorney thinks the patient would benefit from further inpatient treatment. A court cannot order an involuntary placement in a state treatment facility for an individual with TBI or dementia with a co-occurring mental illness.
For care facilities – at least 45 days’ notice of transfer or termination of stay from the facility unless, for medical reasons, the resident is certifie by a physician.
Moreover, as needed, an emergency transfer to a facility providing a more qualified level of care or the resident engages in behavior that is harmful or offensive to other residents.
