CNN now reporting that he was transported to the military hospital in July, after it was noticed that he was acting erratically.
So he didn't voluntarily reach out for mental health treatment. But, dang, only two weeks inpatient for something that disturbing? Someone dropped the ball.
Also, they're still referring to him as a firearms instructor.
So much coming out quickly, it's hard to keep track, and really hard to determine what is fact and what isn't.
Wondering why we haven't seen anything from family, friends, co-workers yet.
JMO.
In most states, that's the legal maximum without someone going to court for a conservatorship (which takes time and is difficult to come by). Most of the time, it's the family who has to petition the court for the conversatorship, but there would have to be expert testimony by a psychiatrist.
I'm curious what the laws in Maine are. Usually one can be held for 72 hours on just the signature of a psychiatrist. After that, paperwork has to be filed (by the psychiatrist and the institution) to extend to two weeks.
In the US, we do not readily hold people against their will. Locked inpatient units are much like jails. The person has lost their freedom. It's a big deal. And in many cases, the subject of the proceedings pulls it together well enough at court to convince a judge they are not a risk.
Further, most psychiatrists really do not like testifying in these matters, unless the patient has explicitly told them of the harm s/he intends to do to others, has a plan and the means to do it. Involuntary commission to a mental hospital is indeed very rare - but it should be. Often, the person realizes during the 2 weeks that they're feeling better and may stay longer (OTOH, in many hospitals, conditions are so overcrowded that unless the patient is acting out in hospital, they figure s/he is good to go to outpatient).
I think most people would be surprised at the scale of serious mental illness and the inability of the system to manage the load. In this case, the best bet would have been to go the family conservatorship route, with a treating private psychiatrist from outside the VA recommending to the court that there be a longer (indefinite) hold.
IMO.