How do I get my wife out of a hospital on a psych hold if she signed a consent to treat form not knowing that she wouldn't be able to leave on her own?
Question Details:
She went into an emergency room with chest pain. She was checked out. No heart problems were found so a social worker was sent in and she said after a 20 minute talk that my wife is going to be sent to a psych ward for further review. I said no. They said too bad its done. They restrained my wife and sent her to another hospital. I'm disabled and can't afford this. This is not what we went to the hospital for. What do I do?
I think you will need to call the hospital where she's now being treated, tomorrow (Monday), and see if you can get some answers. If not, or if you disagree with what you're told, you'll have to hire a lawyer to address this.
One of the biggest questions I see here is what psychiatric issues have been identified, and on what basis someone thinks your wife is likely to cause harm to herself or anyone else if she's not treated on an inpatient basis.
A consent to psychiatric treatment, like any other consent to medical treatment, can be revoked by the patient, although the usual form of psychiatric consent has a built-in waiting period of 48 or 72 hours, to give the treating facility an opportunity to petition for involuntary commitment.
One thing that you need to focus on: a court that is reviewing this, in any context, is going to be more concerned with the mental health issues than with the cost-of-treatment question.
