Walk It Through: The Evaluation Hold

Voluntary admission offered first, an examination on arrival, and a hearing the same day or the next.

No clinician is available, and a police officer believes failing to hospitalize someone would create a likelihood of serious harm by reason of mental illness.

Two things a person in this spot might do. Picking one shows what the law says about it.

One 3-day hospitalization begun by a police officer. The commitment petition and hearing, the court application route, and how the periods are counted under the civil procedure rule are not worked through here.

A practice walkthrough, not a prediction of how any real one will go. Legal information, not legal advice.

Words this turns on

Terms with a legal meaning that is narrower than the everyday one. Each links to the definition and the authority behind it.

Three day hospitalizationRestraint and hospitalization for a 3-day period, applied for by a listed clinician who, after examining a person, has reason to believe that failing to hospitalize them would create a likelihood of serious harm by reason of mental illness. In an emergency, a police officer may do the same if none of them is available.