A ray of hope to hope on:
He could have voluntarily checked himself into a psych ward. They are confidential... missing or not, they cannot even verify if someone is present.
He worked in the field. It is no one's business if he checked himself into hospital.
There is always hope, no matter what. I don't want to bring you down either, but I think the possibility is pretty remote in my experience.
I worked as a psychiatric nurse on an acute, adult, in-patient, locked unit of a regular hospital for 15 years. I have a detailed post about this very topic upthread ( # 62 ) if you do want to read it.
Though everything you said here about confidentiality is true, our administrators always co-operated with LE.
LE was the exception to the confidentiality rule only in relation to the specific issue about which LE was concerned.
On our unit, that usually involved patients facing arrest, so LE was notified prior to the patient's discharge. They were then waiting at the exit door for them.
( Being the Charge Nurse for the last 7 years I was the liaison between them. )
We never had anyone in a similar situation to Timothy but I feel certain LE would have been notified by administration so LE could stop expending their resources to find him.
I can't say for certain then how LE would handle that information afterwards. I would expect though that they would maintain his confidentiality of location, and simply relate to the family that he was known to be safe.
That would be my expectation, but I'm not an authority on it. Just speaking from my work experience. Other psych units might possibly handle this differently I suppose.
( I try not to use the words 'always and never' to describe any possible situation. )
Also another reason I think it highly unlikely that Timothy is in a psych facility is the fact he's been missing over a month.
Insurance companies have very tight purse strings for psych treatment. A person is fortunate to get even five days authorized for major suicide attempts that have landed them in ICU!
Most patients with less serious suicide attempts are lucky to get two days authorized.
This is one of the biggest hurdles to treatment. Since private pay costs are exorbitant, psychiatric units are closing their doors. They can't stay open on good will alone.
I can't imagine any unit where Timothy could be residing for over a month. Even one at a charitable, non-profit hospital. Acute care treatment would not extend that long.
There are long-term residential centers for treatment but they are not entered lightly. The red tape is enormous, and again, they are not for acute crisis management.
As I said, I'm not speaking as a final authority. Just that I find this possibility remote. I wish somehow he was at a psych facility getting help.
Thank you though for trying to interject hope here...
JMO
