My Own Hypothetical Example of the New Commitment Law’s Interpretation Since Apparently Anyone Can Interpret the Law in Virginia

A man and woman have been married for 7 years and are experiencing difficulties in their marriage.  They are arguing a lot about money and what they expect from each other in terms of contributions to the marriage.  One morning they have a huge argument about money and the husband is so angry he storms out of the house.  It’s a Saturday and he doesn’t have to go to work so he goes to a car dealership and out of spite and pique, he buys a new Jaguar which his wife would never agree to buy and which they can not really afford without going into high interest debt for years.  The husband has a previous history of depression after the death of his parents in a car accident which led to a brief hospitalization 5 years prior. 

When the wife finds out what her husband has done, she is furious.  She was hoping they could add on to their home and now they will not be able to do so because of her husband’s to her mind irrational purchase of a Jaguar. 

Is the husband commitable?  Why yes.  He has a history of depression and therefore is at increased risk for a manic episode during his lifetime, all the wife has to do is go to her local Community Services Board and express her deep concern that her husband who has a history of psychiatric hospitalization and an Axis I diagnosis is now manic as witness the serious financial harm he has already inflicted on the couple.  The CSB pre-screener, knowing only the wife’s side of the story and having no reason to doubt her, can call the magistrate who now “shall” issue a Temporary Detention Order instead of “May” as in the old law if a “responsible person”, which includes a family member such as a wife, requests one. 

The husband is in his driveway polishing his new Jaguar when a sheriff’s car arrives and two policemen come up to him and put him in handcuffs.  He has no idea why they are seemingly arresting him until they tell him he is being taken for a mental health evaluation.  All his neighbors watch as the husband is handcuffed and stuffed into the back of a police car.  He arrives at the Community Services Board very upset and scared and embarrassed because he has never broken the law and never been arrested and has just been humiliated in front of his whole neighborhood and been driven like a criminal in police car.  He sits and waits for the pre-screener who is busy with someone else and gets more and more upset and agitated at what has been done to him without any explanation of why it has been done.  Finally he is seen by the Community Services Board clinician who does not have to be a licensed mental health professional and who tells him that his wife is very concerned about his mental health because of his irrational spending.  The husband loses his temper and swears that his wife is a b– and no one should listen to her lies. 

After a brief time the pre-screener decides that this man is definitely mentally ill and in danger of serious financial harm to himself if not a danger to others because he lost his temper and swore about his wife.  He is sent to a psychiatric hospital for 48 hours not counting the weekend or holidays and held for a commitment hearing.  His treatment in the hospital and the statements by hospital staff to him that he is bipolar and must take his medication when he knows he is not bipolar and just the victim of his wife’s anger, make him angrier and angrier.  This is noted in his chart as “manic irritability”.  At his commitment hearing, he finally meets his lawyer for 2 minutes.  His lawyer advises him to volunteer for hospitalization to avoid commitment even though he will lose his right to own a gun and be put on the Criminal Record Exchange Database under the new law.  He refuses because he knows he is not mentally ill.  The special justice takes 15 minutes to decide that the husband is a danger to himself and he is involuntarily committed to the psychiatric hospital.  He is released a few days later with a large hospital bill copay, an FBI file and Criminal Record Exchange File and a psychiatric hospitalization that can now be used against him in his upcoming divorce and custody fight with his wife because mental health records are no longer protected in custody disputes in Virginia as of July 1, 2008.

The End.