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Involuntary Legal Holds for Mental Health Treatment:. What you need to know. “Involuntary Commitment”. An order to keep a person in a hospital, even if it is against their will. Must be accompanied by… Any one of a variety of legal documents in the person’s paper chart Pink Sheet Blue Sheet
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Involuntary Legal Holdsfor Mental Health Treatment: What you need to know
“Involuntary Commitment” • An order to keep a person in a hospital, even if it is against their will. Must be accompanied by… • Any one of a variety of legal documents in the person’s paper chart • Pink Sheet • Blue Sheet • White Sheet • Order of Commitment • Type of document depends on who initiates it • Not applicable to individuals with a legal guardian
Pink Sheet (Emergency Admission) • Good for 24 hours – not including weekends or holidays – after signing • Signed by: social workers, police officers • Most often used to bring/keep a person in the ED against their will, or to admit them to inpatient psychiatric care • Printed on pink paper
Blue Sheet (Emergency Admission) • Good for 24 hours – not including weekends and holidays – after signing • Signed by: a physician • Most often used to keep a person from leaving a medical floor, or to admit a person to inpatient psychiatric care • Printed on blue paper
White Sheet (Application for Involuntary Commitment) • Good for up to 10 days, depending on when the person can go to mental health court • Signed by: a psychiatrist • Typically a follow-up to pink or blue sheet • Initiates a complex legal process to determine whether a person can be treated for mental illness against their will • Entitles them to a second opinion by court-appointed mental health examiners
Order of Commitment • A court order that a person receive mental health treatment for a specified period of time • Does not necessarily mean that a person must stay in the hospital for that entire time • Signed by a judge
Considerations for an inpatient setting: • This patient should not have privileges to go off the unit, except for diagnostic/treatment procedures, and should be accompanied by RN or HCA • This patient cannot leave AMA while they are under involuntary status • This person has been assessed as presenting an acute risk to themselves or others and/or an inability to make informed treatment decisions because of their mental illness • However, we still cannot force non-emergent medications or treatments on this person without taking further legal steps