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Q&A
Inquiry into new legal standard for involuntary commitment
0:55:50
·
74 sec
Council Member Cabán presses for information on how the new state legal standard for involuntary commitment affects DHS policies and practices.
- Cabán asks specifically about changes in policies and directives due to the new legal standard
- Commissioner Park explains their reliance on clinical expertise and nurses for decision-making
- Administrator Carter emphasizes that licensed clinicians make decisions about involuntary removals based on individual assessments
Tiffany Cabán
0:55:50
I'm sorry because I just have limited time, I just want to interject here.
0:55:53
I'm specifically interested in understanding how your role or your policies and directives might or are changing in light of the state's new legal standard for involuntary commitment, which we know lowers the floor.
Molly Wasow Park
0:56:10
So we work very closely with nurses.
0:56:13
We have been growing the number of nurses that we have who are going out on outreach, and we really depend on clinical expertise to make a decision on when somebody does need to be taken to the hospital.
0:56:26
But Administrator Crowder, do you want to chime in?
Jocelyn Carter
0:56:29
Thanks Commissioner.
0:56:30
It really is important to know that decisions about involuntary removals are done by the licensed clinician and for us those are our nurses that's with the teams that are out.
0:56:40
So, the decision is not taken lightly.
0:56:42
Our licensed nurse is with the team that's making that decision and they are making that assessment.
0:56:48
So, for DHS outreach, for provider outreach, it is with the authority of the clinician that's making that determination.
0:56:57
It is not done lightly and it's really looking at what's happening around the circumstance of that particular situation.
0:57:04
I guess