My dad called the police to baker act me (72 hour hold) twice. I dont have insurance, so both visits were $9,000 a piece, money I couldnt imagine to have in my life time, especially since I need a car too. He could have taken me to a primary care doctor on both occasions but had an attitude that his son isnt his problem after I moved out of the house.
Primary care = 220 a visit
Emergency room = Extreme debt that takes forever to pay off
do the right thing please and don’t be lazy. if theyll go to a primary care doctor its better you take them, than be lazy and let the police do it because there are consequences
Wow - that is a rediculous amount of money for a 72 hour hold. I wonder if that is true for every state. I guess the hospital charges whatever they want. Definitely something that needs to be researched a bit before you do anything like this.
they end up keeping you longer. That hold only legally lasts 3 days, however you have to request to be let out before that, which could take a day a day to go through, plus you if your still schizophrenic you dont have the mental capacity to fill think about filling out this form. I was still psychotic after both visits as the meds take days to enter the system. The entire time I was in these facilities I just had a nurse check my blood pressure. A facility isn’t necessary in my opinion, all I needed was the meds which could have taken one visit.
if they have insurance its worth it. I had insurance during one of these visits, but I didnt give it to the nurse because I was paranoid the facility was a CIA facility and I didnt want me information out. Its been more than a year and my insurance is looking like they might not cover this one visit. the other time I was baker acted because I went psychotic again. all I needed both times was the meds, the observation provides almost no benefit you get the same medicine either way its just a waste of resources.
Just my opinion that when these caregivers come in here talking about what they should do for a schizophrenic relative whether they will willingly go to the doctor should be considered. The police are not a third party to take them to hospital for you. Especially considering they will point a gun in your face like they did me.
At least in jail the taxpayers pay. Wtf how can they force you to pay large fees against your will as a human? Those stays were so pointless, we pay for prisoners a free place we should pay for baker act fees too. You dont even get the choice to go to a cheaper facility
In the US - insurance companies have a lot of loopholes, especially when it comes to mental health. Its very different in Canada BarbieBF.
For other parents considering 72 hour holds - I would first check with your insurance company and your local NAMI organization to double check things.
and @cactustomato - most people who do do 72 hour holds only do it because the have tried absolutely everything else. And - as you mention - its far from a great solution - most people just start the medications and then stop them as soon as they get out a few days later - before the medications have really started to work - so there are no easy solutions when someone doesn’t recognize that they are ill.
I completely agree with you. Holds should only be used when other conservative measures have failed or are not available.
Many years ago, my therapist had me Baker Acted because I missed a session and she felt I was going to hurt myself. Of course, I wasn’t, and this was a total overreaction.
It ended up costing me $5,000, because I did not have insurance or Medicare at the time. I’m STILL paying that off.
I recently just went back to work at a private psych treatment center where I worked as a nurse before I became disabled. We have very strict guidelines on involuntary holds, due to the extreme cost and the traumatic nature of them. Our facility charges around $6,000 for a 72 hour. But most of our patients are released WELL before that. We eval and treat them within 6 hours of arrival, and they are continually reassessed by a team of psychologists and psychiatrists over the next 24 hours. With the goal being to stabilize and release as soon as medically possible, to avoid high costs and loss of functioning within an institutional setting.
Unfortunately, not every family member, psych professional, or psych facility truly realizes the damages of an involuntary hold. If they did, I’m sure they would use this process much more wisely.
@neveragain brings up a good point - that is important for families to remember.
Police in many part of the USA (in fact in most countries) don’t have any clue about mental illness and their first response is frequently with guns, which is a really bad thing.
Before any family calls the police on their family member - I’d do research to see if there is a special group within the police force that is trained specially to deal with mental health issues. These people usually know that guns are not needed and are to be avoided.
Yours are even higher, at least the fees I paid were for 7 days. Lazy ass doctors. Ive never been charged so much for a decision I didnt have the capacity to make in my life.
I’ve had like a health and welfare check from the VA, right? But never, I mean never, has my family forced me to do a thing. I have always voluntarily checked in with the VA if I needed help and I’d get buzzed into the ward. It’s not fun, I haven’t been there for a period of years, but never…I mean never would I let my family do that to me. I’m not saying to harbor this against them cactus…yet with some initiative this could be prevented from ever happening again. I wish you had some more financial backup, and I’ll keep you in my prayers.
Yes, it is an embarrassing amount to charge someone who’s ill and vulnerable. Even with insurance, the patient will probably be paying several hundred dollars out of pocket.
It’s not right, in my opinion. And it’s something that I feel is terribly unfair for the mentally ill who are already suffering financially.
family in america isnt like family in other countries unfortunately. familys seem to stick together well until their twenties and beyond, and no one is left behind. I see so many families in this forum letting their members go homeless. I understand why some families do baker act others, its the recommended thing to do especially on forums like this. My point is, the emergency room is so expensive that even if it takes a few days, if someone can convince them to go to the doctor on their own then they should because the emergency room will wreck your financial health
What I dont understand is this supposed “72 Hour hold” when I went inpatient they promised me it would only be for 72 hours. Well when I actually got to the hospital, I asked one of the nurses this and they just laughed and say that they tell everyone that so they’ll sign the forms. I read the forms really thoroughly before signing. What’s the point of lying? needless to say, I was there for longer than just 72 hours.
I was once 302’d by my psychiatrist. I don’t remember exactly how long I was in there, I think maybe a week.When I got out the hospital sent me a bill for $11, 000. I threw it away. Never heard of it again.
As a family member I made sure my daughter had the state insurance she qualified for immediately because I knew the severity of her illness and I knew the care she would need. I knew state programs could offer her services she couldn’t get anywhere else because the state as a vested interest in seeing people well that independent insurance companies don’t (although they should-it would be cheaper for them in the long run-but they don’t think like that). It was a gigantic pain in the butt and totally stressful, I HATE that bureaucratic admin stuff, and there was no way on earth she could have done it for herself. IMHO this is part of what family advocacy is about-making sure your relative has access to the care they need. I jumped through all the hoops for SSI too. It’s what has to be done.
The first time my daughter was hospitalized was because she asked to be. I was going to take her to a psychiatrist but I hadn’t found one yet. She got up in the middle of the night and tried to take the car, and she didn’t have her license and was in no shape to drive. The second time was after she took a month’s worth of seroquel. The third time she asked me to because the voices were telling her to harm people and she was scared she might do it. The fourth time was because was suicidal and she asked me to. The fith time was because she took 300 aspirin and ended up in the ICU. The kid has basically no stomach lining left. It was clear to me at that time that what I was doing at home was not keeping her safe. And she WAS med compliant the whole time and they weren’t working. The definition of stupidity is to keep doing what is not working. At that time she was put on a waiting list for a residential. She spent two months at the acute care facility waiting, and 3 months at residential. She has been discharged for a year now, no further hospitalizations and is doing awesome.
If anyone thinks for one moment that hospitalizing her wasn’t traumatic for me they are dead wrong. She begged me, she said everything she was taught to say to get out of there, she had family, usually myself but sometimes others there for every visiting hour. It was hell to see her so sick and miserable. It had nothing to do with laziness and everything to do with avoiding a real disaster. She would lie and say she wasn’t going to hurt herself and she was doing great, only to wait for the moment she was alone so she could try and hurt herself again. I firmly believe she is doing as well as she is now because her family did what needed to be done whether she liked it or not. I’d rather have a year of hell than a dead daughter, a daughter locked away for hurting someone, or prolonging the recovery process years and making the long term outcome worse in the process.
I know the hospitalizations were extremely traumatic, and I also know patients have rights and it’s not right to force something against someone’s will. But life is full of tough choices, sometimes you have to choose between two crappy situations and weigh the best course to take. I would hope no one would ever take that lightly, I sure didn’t. Sometimes it about what regrets you think you can live with.