#1006608

docx

School

Walden University *

*We aren’t endorsed by this school

Course

6052

Subject

Medicine

Date

Feb 20, 2024

Type

docx

Pages

Uploaded by grace3mum

1 Mental Health Law in Maryland Student’s Name Institutional Affiliation

2 Mental Health Law in Maryland Mental health is a fundamental program in the provision of mental health services in the community, as well as ensuring quality mental health services to the entire population in the United States. Various States have different laws and regulation that guides PMHNP as they deliver mental health services to mentally ill patients. Therefore, the paper will explore the concept related to involuntary psychiatric holds, impatient commitment, emergency hospitalization, and outpatient commitment based in the State of Maryland, United States, as from the last updates. Maryland Law Involuntary psychiatry held for child and adult psychiatric emergencies in the state of Maryland falls under the Act called State's Emergency and Temporary Involuntary Admission for Evaluation of Individuals with Mental Illness. The law provides the people with the emergency psychiatric evaluation to be detained involuntarily for 72 hours. This program can only be done by a mental health professional, police officer, and the appointed crisis team member with a valid reason that indicates the person is a danger to self or others. After 72 hours under detention, the physician can release the individual after assessing them, and findings indicate that the individual is no longer dangerous to themselves or others around them, and this means that they do not meet the criteria for emergency evaluation (Vitiello et al. 2023). After the release of the individual, the person who is eligible for picking up the patient is the family member, or the facility decides to release them on their own after being satisfied that they can take care of themselves without harm to themselves or harm to others (Vitiello et al. 2023). However, in the situation where the individual still can cause danger to self or others, the

3 emergency evaluation decides on the transfer of the patient for longer-term inpatient or outpatient management. The Differences There are different interventions and care in Maryland concerning emergency hospitalization for evaluation, psychiatry holds, inpatient commitment, and outpatient commitment. For instance, emergency hospitalization is usually for a short-term period of 72 hours. This is purely the emergency psychiatry evaluation, then consider a transfer if not improved. However, the inpatient commitment part entails admitting this patient to a mental health unit for a long period of management for 30 days. In contrast, the outpatient commitment means that the patient will be managed as they reside in their residential areas or communities. However, the court orders mental health professionals to supervise this patient on medication programs ( Morris, 2020). Capacity and Competency In mental health and psychiatry, capacity is the ability of a person to make a decision and have an appropriate understanding of the consequences of the decision made. On the other hand, the ability of a person to have full participation in legal cases with a full understanding of their rights is under the concept of competency. While connecting this with psychiatry emergencies, the mentally ill individual cannot decide the involuntary hospitalization; however, these individuals may have the competency to participate in the legal proceedings. For instance, in the case of reviewing the commitment, the individual might be competent to participate in the mental health proceedings (Alex et al., 2019). HIPAA Privacy Rule

Your preview ends here

Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version

Access to all documents
Unlimited textbook solutions
24/7 expert homework help

4 Treatment of psychiatric emergencies in the States of Maryland ensures that mental health professionals respect the confidentiality of the patient's information. The HIPAA protects the rights of the patient by ensuring that healthcare professionals maintain the confidentiality of the medical information and the personal information of the patients. However, in the case of a psychiatric emergency, this ethical issue will be breached since the information must be shared with other nonmedical agencies such as law enforcement or family members. Even though this breaches confidentiality and ends up creating tension regarding the rights of the patients to privacy, its benefits, such as ensuring safety, outweighs the risk (Moore & Frye, 2019). Suicidal Risk Assessment In screening patients for suicidal risk in psychiatric emergencies in the States of Maryland, the applicable tool is the Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS). According to Salvi (2019), the tool is effective in screening the individual at risk of suicide, and it is widely used in mental health practice. Some of the aspects that are assessed under this tool include suicidal thoughts, suicidal behaviors, intent, and suicidal attempts. Therefore, healthcare professionals use this tool to identify the interventions and support that the mentally ill patient needs. Violence Risk Assessment The screening for violence risk assessment for screening the patient in Maryland would utilize a tool called Historical Risk Management-20. (HCR-20). According to Silva (2020), the tool assesses particulars such as previous violent behaviors, mental health illness, and the abuse of substances. These are significantly associated with the individual engaging in future violent behaviors. Moreover, the prediction of violence among psychiatric patients enables the formulation of intervention and treatment for psychiatric emergencies.

5 In conclusion, the State of Maryland has clear laws that guide involuntary psychiatric holds for child and adult psychiatric emergencies. The main aim of this clear law is to ensure effective intervention in mental health crises. Furthermore, mental healthcare professionals are urged to consider legal and ethical issues such as confidentiality as outlined by HIPPA. The use of evidence-based tools such as HCR-20 and C-SSRS is also effective in assessing violence and suicide, respectively.

6 References Alex Ruck Keene, Kane, N. B., Scott, & Owen, G. (2019). Taking capacity seriously? Ten years of mental capacity disputes before England’s Court of Protection. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry , 62 , 56–76. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijlp.2018.11.005 Moore, W., & Frye, S. (2019). Review of HIPAA, Part 1: History, Protected Health Information, and Privacy and Security Rules. Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology , 47 (4), 269–272. https://doi.org/10.2967/jnmt.119.227819 Morris, N. P. (2020). Detention without data: Public tracking of civil commitment. Psychiatric services, 71 (7), 741-744. https://ps.psychiatryonline.org/doi/full/10.1176/appi.ps.202000212 Salvi, J. (2019). Calculated Decisions: Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS). Emergency Medicine Practice , 21 (5), CD3-4. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7974826/ Silva, E. (2020). The HCR-20 and violence risk assessment – will a peak of inflated expectations turn to a trough of disillusionment? BJPsych Bulletin , 44 (6), 269–271. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjb.2020.14 Alex Ruck Keene, Kane, N. B., Scott, & Owen, G. (2019). Taking capacity seriously? Ten years of mental capacity disputes before England’s Court of Protection. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry , 62 , 56–76. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijlp.2018.11.005 Moore, W., & Frye, S. (2019). Review of HIPAA, Part 1: History, Protected Health Information, and Privacy and Security Rules. Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology , 47 (4), 269– 272. https://doi.org/10.2967/jnmt.119.227819

Your preview ends here

Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version

Access to all documents
Unlimited textbook solutions
24/7 expert homework help

7 Salvi, J. (2019). Calculated Decisions: Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS). Emergency Medicine Practice , 21 (5), CD3-4. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7974826/ Silva, E. (2020). The HCR-20 and violence risk assessment – will a peak of inflated expectations turn to a trough of disillusionment? BJPsych Bulletin , 44 (6), 269–271. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjb.2020.14 Vitiello, E., Roskam, K., & Swanson, J. W. (2023). Balancing the roles of clinicians and police in separating firearms from people in a dangerous mental health crisis: Legal rules, policy tools, and ethical considerations. Journal of Law Medicine & Ethics , 51 (1), 93–103. https://doi.org/10.1017/jme.2023.44

#1006608

Related Documents