legal question? mentally ill looking for family, what can they do???

Question

If someone is locked up in a mental health institue and there is no contact with ANY family, Yet the patient constantly talks about their children and husband etc. Yet there is NO record can a person put there name on a site looking to see if anyone knows them? I know there is confidenciality for the mentally ill, but I am talking about patients that give names and want to have contact with family????

Answer 1

Their medical information is confidential, who she is in general is not medical info. If she is her own guardian there shouldnt be a problem. Just to be safe id just print out a statement stating what you are trying to do and have the person agree to it and sign it.

In some cases the family is not allowed to have contact due to a restraining order or what-not, since a lot of people who are mentally ill have come out of some pretty serious situations. Sometimes the family will be abusive towards them. Look into this as well, ask the company you work for for a history just to cya.

The best thing to do is ask the patient for the names of the family, try too look them up or just post something with THEIR names saying a family member is trying to contact them, then when you get their info give her the choice to call.

Answer 2

There are some huge questions here. Assuming that a patient is in a hospital by a court order, hospital and/or court records would be presumed to have some knowledge of family members who are legal next of kin. And I believe, some legal obligation on the part of the hospital to notify those persons UNLESS the patient has explicitly forbidden it. Which I think they have the legal right to do, within some limits.
A husband has legal liability for a spouse... thus, he would know. Children don't have that same liability. Depending on the full circumstances (which can be incredibly complex), there is often estrangement from family, if the person has been extremely unstable, delusional or even violent. The trick is whether or not the person realizes what has gone on, since lack of cognitive things are often part of the illness.
For some patients.. their contact with family or using the internet would be restricted or monitored, for their own safety. As possibly a hostile family situation COULD be detrimental to treatment or stability. Again... the fact of being there by court order really raises questions, which the doctor would be in the best place to judge.
And there is always the extreme possibility that the patient might be so delusional that the husband or children don't even exist.
Trust me..I am not saying any of these things with judgement. I have a daughter who is bipolar, and have dealt with more than one stay in a hospital. I have run into some horrible doctors too, but overall, the person's doctor should be the most aware of this, and how to handle it.