The Orange County Criminal Lawyer Blog
When a woman learned she was going to be held at a mental health facility involuntarily, she allegedly struck one of the attending nurses and said psych nurses should expect they will be hit by patients while on the job.
On February 7, a 32-year-old woman was taken to BayCare Behavioral Health at Morton Plant Hospital in Clearwater, Florida, for a psychiatric evaluation. They did not reveal the source of the call, but the police report noted that the woman was brought to the unit after “a separate call for service.”
After the woman was brought into a hospital room, she was given a gown and told to take off her street clothing and put it on. She inquired about whether Florida’s Baker Act was why she was being admitted. The University of Florida (UC Health) defined the act, which has been in effect since 1972, as a “law that enables families and loved ones to provide emergency mental health services and temporary detention for people who are impaired because of their mental illness, and who are unable to determine their needs for treatment.”