Not Much Sanity in The Laws

Our state has laws to protect the mentally ill.  I understand the laws.  I understand why they were created.  They just do not always work to help the patient that needs help.  In order for a person to be hospitalized for mental illness they must be a harm to themself or others.  Depending on who is in charge this is a very broad law.  I think that a person that is mentally ill and stops taking their medication is harming themself.  The people that make the decision (usually a crisis team) does not agree.  I think if a person stops eating that is harming themselves.  Unfortunately, the patient has to be completely out of control to get admitted to the hospital.  We accomplished step one the other day.
Once in the hospital insurance can come into play.  The patient is usually in for 3 days against their will.  Normally, the hospital can find reasons to keep them longer.  (If, they have insurance.)  In order to go longer than 7-10 days, against the patients will, there has to be a hearing.
This is what we faced this morning.  This is a legal hearing held in the hospital.  The State's Attorney requests a 90 day committal.  The patient gets a Public Defender.  Witnesses are the Dr., nurses, and relatives.  I received a 6:00 am call from Joel.  He was calm,  Asked for a coat for his move to long term care.  Big relief!  He was going to go calmly.  Enter the Public Defender.......  He explained to Joel that he has rights.  One is the right to ask for a jury trial.  One is to call for a second opinion.  He can also agree to go without a hearing.  That is what we all hoped would happen.  The Public Defender explained to Joel (in private), that the State's Attorney was asking for 90 days.  I am going to guess he did not explain to Joel that in our State that was not going to happen due to too many people needing care and too few beds for their care.  At this point most people only get 30 days.  All Joel heard was 90 days.  In a completely delusional, over-medicated state of mind, Joel decided his best choice was a second opinion.  He thought this would get him released until next week.  His Public Defender must not have done a good enough job explaining that part of the plan to Joel.
Hearing postponed until next Thursday morning.  Joel will have his second opinion.  I have already received two very angry calls from him today.  One before we made it to our car leaving the hospital.  We did not see Joel because it was not visiting hours.  We have no plans for a visit until he calms down.  No reason to put ourselves through the heartache.  I really do not care what hospital he is in as long as he is being treated in a hospital.  Unfortunately, I think his Dr. was being casual about his care to ensure he was not calm before the hearing.  He finally started a new medication yesterday.  I would really like to see some aggressive care.  Obviously, what has been happening is not working.
At least we have another week, of the calm and quiet in our home.