Quick Summary: For a hospital to detain a patient for involuntary psychiatric care, it must be demonstrated, by clear and convincing evidence, that the patient is mentally ill and in need of continued, supervised care and treatment, and that the patient poses a substantial threat of harm to himself and/or others.  NEW YORK SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE DIVISION, 1996.

   In reviewing and overturning a lower court which the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, believed had erroneously ordered a psychiatric patient released from involuntary mental health commitment, the court did have to concede the lower court was correct in stating that the patient having stabbed his brother and parents ten years earlier was not sufficient grounds to justify continued involuntary psychiatric detention at the present time.

   However, there were other grounds sufficient for keeping the patient in treatment involuntarily, the court ruled. The patient was observed at the present time to be very angry, paranoid and delusional. He was talking to himself, saying that the hospital staff was trying to poison him with his medications, and that his grandfather was former boxing champion Muhammad Ali and was going to appear at the hospital and kill everyone there.

   The patient refused to verbalize an intention to continue taking his medications if he were released. Thus it was believed he would stop taking his medications, start acting out his delusions, and become assaultive, were he released from a structured mental health treatment setting where his medications could be monitored and his behavior controlled, the court said. Application of Ford, 645 N.Y.S. 2d 27 (N.Y. App., 1996).