ASK THE ADVOCATE: Windshield wipers and headlights
Is there a law in Louisiana that basically says that if your windshield wipers are on, then your headlights should also be on? Do they enforce it?
Yes to both questions, according to Lt. Doug Cain, a spokesman for the Louisiana State Police.
In Louisiana, is the ‘observation status’ legal to have a patient admitted to a locked psychiatric unit? If not, has it ever been a legal Louisiana psychiatric status? Where do patients report use of this commitment status?
This is the response from the state Department of Health and Hospitals, released through its communications director, Lisa Faust:
With regard to the stated question on ‘observational status’, we do not know of any provision in Title 28 of the statutes that indicates this as a legal status for admission. Observation is one of the responsibilities of a facility for someone who is admitted under one of the legally permissible conditions for admission. This is stated in R.S. 28:51: §51. Procedures for admission: A. The director of a treatment facility, subject to the availability of suitable accommodations, shall receive for observation, diagnosis, care, and treatment, any person whose admission is authorized under any of the procedures provided for in R.S. 28:52 through R.S. 28:54 and R.S. 28:64.
Now, in R.S. 28:52 through R.S. 28:54 and R.S. 28:64, the defined procedures for admission are: Voluntary admissions, which include informal voluntary admission, formal voluntary admission, noncontested admission, admission by relative (for substance abuse only) based on order of protective custody from a coroner; involuntary admissions which include admission by emergency certificate, order for custody (this allows for transportation of an individual to a facility for examination to determine if they meet admission criteria — a person has to be examined within 12 hours or be released), judicial commitment. There is no reference in the statutes to ‘observation status’ as a legally defined condition for admission to a behavioral health facility.
The next part of the question asks where patients can report that they have been held in a locked unit under ‘observation.’ Generally, individuals who believe that their rights have been violated have several avenues for complaints: 1) they can file a complaint with the clients’ rights officer of the facility or with the CEO/administrator of the facility; 2) they can file a complaint with DHH, BHSF (licensing division) (1.866.280.7737); and/or 3) they can contact the Mental Health Advocacy Service (Advocacy Service for the Elderly and Disabled) or just ‘Mental Health Advocate’ who are statutorily appointed as the legal guardian for and defendant of the rights of individuals who have mental illness or substance abuse under R.S. 28:64.