How to be exempt from hospitalization

How do i become exempt from forced hospitalization? i live in maryland and i dont want to be able to be taken to the hospital against my will. I was threatened the other day for not wanting to take my brain damage pills. What kind of lawyer would help? Any other things like advanced directives etc? Also i dont want to be able to given ect or drugs.

please this goes against my civil rights

Members of MindFreedom International use mutual support to protect one another from unwanted coerced psychiatric procedures. Current MindFreedom members may register for the MindFreedom Shield for free. Then if a member with a Shield is threatened with coerced psychiatry, that member can instantly activate a public alert system.

http://www.mindfreedom.org/campaign/shield/mindfreedom-shield-program-overview

1-877-mad-pride

-- Tue Jul 23, 2013 12:44 am --

Johnshopkinssucks wrote:Any other things like advanced directives etc? Also i dont want to be able to given ect or drugs.

I don't know if this works, but here you go,

Letter of protection from psychiatric incarceration and/or treatment

The following declaration should be signed and witnessed by a notary public, clergyman, attorney or at least by a trusted friend or reliable family member. Make several copies of the signed document and keep the original in a safe place. Give one copy to each of the persons named below (see pg. 2, item #6). Provide a copy to your attorney, if you have one.

Should you be in a position where you are subject to unwanted psychiatric treatment and/or hospitalization, ensure that the person(s) attempting such are shown and are aware of this signed and witnessed declaration. Immediately let your attorney and all other persons in your confidence know so that they may come to your aid.

Such things as apparent or undetected physical illnesses, diseases and deficiencies can manifest in mental or behavioral symptoms which can be mistaken by emergency medical personal, hospital staff and others as “psychiatric” illness. For this reason, during any attempt at involuntary hospitalization or psychiatric treatment by another, repeatedly declare your desire for a clarification of your condition of physical health. Explain that you wish to have this declaration abided by, however, do not physically resist or become aggressive. Demand to see an attorney.

A copy of your signed declaration should also be sent to the local or international branch of Citizens Commission on Human Rights® (CCHR®). The International address is: CCHR, 6616 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, California, United States, 90028.


Psychiatric Living Will

(Advance Protective Directive)

I, ______________________, born on ______________________ in ______________________
address ___________________________________________________________, being of sound mind, willfully and voluntarily make known the following:
1.Under no circumstances should I be subjected to psychiatric hospitalization or psychiatric treatments or procedures including but not limited to the following: •Psychotropic drugs (substances which exert a mind-altering effect, including but not limited to antidepressants, antipsychotics, benzodiazepines, mood stabilizers and tranquilizers);
•Psychosurgical or neurological operation such as lobotomy or leucotomy;
•Convulsive treatments such as electroconvulsive therapy (also known as electroshock, shock treatment or ECT) and insulin shock;
•Deep sleep treatment (narcosis, narcosynthesis, sleep therapy, prolonged narcosis, modified narcosis or neuroleptization);

2.I maintain my right not to have any psychiatric evaluation or diagnosis based upon the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) as such diagnoses are unreliable. According to Allen Frances, who was chairman of the fourth edition of DSM, “There are no objective tests in psychiatry—no X-ray, laboratory, or exam finding that says definitely that someone does or does not have a mental disorder.” (“Psychiatric Fads and Overdiagnosis,” Psychology Today, 2 June 2010.) Additionally, the DSM system is not scientific. It’s own editors state that “there is no assumption that each category of mental disorder is a completely discrete entity with absolute boundaries dividing it from other mental disorders or from no mental disorder.” (DSM-IV, pg. xxii)
Such codes and descriptions should not be entered into my medical records as this unreliable and unscientific information will remain in my records and may wrongly influence any future medical treatment I might receive.

3.Involuntary hospitalization or commitment is a violation of my civil rights under U.S. Code, Title 42, Chapter 21 § 1983, Civil action for deprivation of rights. Lawsuits for involuntary commitment have resulted in verdicts of $1 million or more against hospitals, doctors and other agencies and personnel: •Lund vs. Northwest Medical Center, (Case No. Civ. 1805-95, Court of Common Pleas, Venango County, PA, June 16, 2003), jury awarded $1,100,000 million in damages.
•Marion vs. LaFargue Case No. 00 Civ. 0840, 2004 WL 330239, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, February 23, 2004), jury verdict of $1,000,001 in damages.
•Dick vs. Watonwan County (Case No. Civ. 4-82-1.16, U.S. District Court, District of Minnesota, April 11, 1983), more than $1 million in damages awarded to plaintiff.

4.The above directions apply in all cases, including any instance where: •It is claimed that my capacity or ability to give instructions may be impaired;
•I am in a state of unconsciousness;
•It is impossible in an actual and legal sense for me to communicate or;
•Any physician, psychiatrist, psychologist, mental health practitioner or law enforcement official or person asserts that the matter is a “life-saving” situation requiring emergency intervention and/or treatment under any involuntary commitment law or similar legal authority.

5.In the absence of my ability to give further directions regarding the above, it is my intention that this declaration be honored by my family and physician(s) as an expression of my legal right to refuse medical, psychiatric or surgical treatment although this statement concerns only psychiatric treatment.

6.The individuals listed below are appointed and authorized to enforce this declaration of intention. Should this declaration be violated, they have my permission to initiate whatever criminal and/or civil procedures are necessary to rectify such a violation:

________________________________________
________________________________________

________________________________________
________________________________________


By this declaration, I release all medical doctors and their organizations as well as therapists from their professional discretion or confidentiality towards provision of information to the above named attorney(s) and other person(s).

This declaration is also binding for my lawful agents, guardians, family, executors or any person with the legal or other right to take care of me or my affairs.

________________________________________
Signed ________________________________________
Date
________________________________________
Street Address ________________________________________
City, State, Zip
________________________________________
Signature of Witness ________________________________________
Name of Witness
________________________________________
Before me on this date (date signature is witnessed.) ________________________________________
At (place where signature is witnessed.)

Link http://www.cchrint.org/psychiatric-living-will/

I am not a lawyer but:

If that living will were legally binding (and it isn't) then anyone finding themselves in the ER for physical reasons (e.g. a serious accident) and unable to communicate has arguably just opted out of pain medication. If you signed that you'd also arguably have to hope you never had seizures, head injuries, etc etc for the rest of your life.

I can understand why people want to refuse psych medications, but if I was going to opt out I'd want to make sure damn sure that the document I signed was crystal clear about stuff like pain meds in the event of physical accident.

Edited to add:

Interesting stuff on wikipedia page about PADs:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychiatri ... _directive

This is the case in the living will.

"Marion was offered but refused medication. But Bellevue Dr. Robert LaFargue wrote out an order authorizing him to be injected with Haldol, an antipsychotic, and Ativan, a tranquilizer, and stating that, from then on, Marion was to take another drug, Depakote, orally, on threat of injection.

A federal jury awarded him $1 million in his lawsuit charging he was illegally held and injected with drugs at Bellevue Hospital over a six-day period five years ago. The defendants were two psychiatrists at Bellevue and the city’s Health and Hospitals Corporation.

The amount is reportedly the most ever awarded in a United States psychiatric hospital case.

In his testimony, Marion described being strapped down to a gurney, a nurse hovering over him with a needle, then injecting him, “like in ‘The Cuckoo’s Nest,’ ” referring to Ken Kesey’s novel about a psychiatric hospital from hell. Comparing himself to “Louima,” as in police brutality victim Abner Louima, Marion said, “They used a toilet plunger for him and a needle for me.”

Read more http://thevillager.com/villager_35/homelessmanwins.html

I'm not sure if advanced directives or even assigning a health care proxy work in terms of involuntary psychiatric admission. I say this, because I have both of these in place along with all of the necessary documentation. During a time when I was brought to the emergency room by some police officers, my health care proxy, who told them of my advanced directives and that he was the health care proxy (and showed them the documentation) was told that those didn't matter in this type of situation as I was already deemed to be a harm to myself or others. Now, according to charter's wikipedia link only 25 states have PAD's. Mine is not a PAD, it is just a regular advanced directive so perhaps this is the difference.

Cheze2 wrote:I'm not sure if advanced directives or even assigning a health care proxy work in terms of involuntary psychiatric admission. I say this, because I have both of these in place along with all of the necessary documentation. During a time when I was brought to the emergency room by some police officers, my health care proxy, who told them of my advanced directives and that he was the health care proxy (and showed them the documentation) was told that those didn't matter in this type of situation as I was already deemed to be a harm to myself or others. Now, according to charter's wikipedia link only 25 states have PAD's. Mine is not a PAD, it is just a regular advanced directive so perhaps this is the difference.

I don't think this debate would even be happening if they were not 100% totally abusing people with medication. We have all been there for what ever reason and know exactly what goes on. Who refuses medication that makes them feel better anyway ? "I'm having a panic attack, but I refuse that Xanax !", it never happens.

I was reading an argument by people in favor of forced drugging, people who have never taken the drugs that get refused, and they said "Don't people have a right to get better ?"

Define better.

Except, Allen Frances actually did think that mental disorders did exist, and that they are suggested by the DSM. That they needed to still develope better medical tests to understand the underlying diseases we call mental disorders. Just a note to put out there.