Transfer trauma, also known as relocation stress syndrome, has been studied since the 1960s and according to controlled studies the mortality rate for elderly that are transferred is 2-4 times higher than those that are not subjected to this type of stress. [1] All too often this known adverse effect is not taken into consideration when senior citizens are taken into custody for an involuntary psychiatric examination.
The mental health law in Florida, commonly referred to as the Baker Act, allows for the involuntary examination of all individuals and this includes the elderly. Under the Baker Act, a senior citizen can be sent against their will, and without consulting the family or guardian, for an examination and the receiving facility is then legally allowed to hold the senior for up to 72 hours. According to the Annual Report on the Baker Act, released in 2019, there were 205,781 involuntary examinations in 2018 — more than doubling over the past 17 years — with over 7 percent of the initiations on persons 65 years of age or older. [2]
These alarming statistics are indicative of abuse according to the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), a mental health industry watchdog that works to ensure patient and consumer protections are enacted and upheld.
“Our organization has received hundreds of calls involving the Baker Acting of an elderly person and in the vast majority of cases the senior did not meet the criteria for involuntary examination but instead was suffering from an untreated medical condition,” said Diane Stein, President of the Florida chapter of CCHR.
Over 15,000 of Florida’s elderly were sent for involuntary psychiatric examinations in 2018, forcing the stress of physical transport to Baker Act facilities on these seniors. It is well documented that transferring an elderly person puts them at risk for depression, anxiety, and similar behavior disturbances, which may then result in the senior being treated with unnecessary psychotropic drugs which come with many side effects. [3]
Furthermore, senior citizens who find themselves admitted for psychiatric evaluation are sometimes later informed that the criteria for Baker Acting was never met, that there was no evidence of mental illness, and instead it was found by clinical staff the senior simply needed rest, proper nutrition, or an adjustment to baseline medication. [4] [5]
Additionally, the concurrent use of multiple medications, known as polypharmacy, has doubled in the past decade among retirement-age Americans despite warnings from geriatric medical organizations. In fact, the number of office visits resulting in multiple pharmaceutical prescription has risen from 1.5 million in 2004 to 3.68 million in 2013 — more than a 50% increase — with rural areas showing the highest surge. Those diagnosed with dementia are even more susceptible to polypharmacy and specifically psychotropic drugging. According to the Office of the Inspector General, 304,983 elderly nursing home residents in the U.S. were given dangerous and often deadly antipsychotic drugs, 88% of which were prescribed off-label for dementia. [6] [7]
“Many retirement-age Americans are taking multiple psychiatric drugs and are unaware of the dangerous side effects or the fact that the drug is being used off-label,” said Stein.
For more information on the protection of elder rights under the mental health law, please call 727-442-8820 or visit www.cchrflorida.org.
About CCHR: Initially established by the Church of Scientology and renowned psychiatrist Dr. Thomas Szasz in 1969, CCHR’s mission is to eradicate abuses committed under the guise of mental health and enact patient and consumer protections. L. Ron Hubbard, founder of Scientology, first brought psychiatric imprisonment to wide public notice: “Thousands and thousands are seized without process of law, every week, over the ‘free world’ tortured, castrated, killed. All in the name of ‘mental health,’” he wrote in March 1969. For more information visit www.cchrflorida.org.
Sources:
[1] http://flash.lakeheadu.ca/~mstones/transfertrauma.htm
[2] https://www.usf.edu/cbcs/baker-act/documents/ba_usf_annual_report_2017_2018.pdf
[3] https://hernandosun.com/Baker_Act_A_Dementia_Dilemma_7_29_16
[5] https://www.crisisprevention.com/Blog/November-2010/A-Real-Issue-for-Many-Individuals-With-Dementia
[6] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/13/health/psychiatric-drugs-prescriptions.html?_r=1
At age 76, I have my own recent horror story, which I am likely to pursue legally because I was kept unconscious through IV medications while in the ER waiting to be transferred to a psych hospital. I was removed from my home after being held down by seven large males (3 EMS and 4 Deputies) and injected with three meds against my will. This happened after the paramedic knocked me backward onto the floor where I slid about 9 feet before jamming my head into the corner of a wall, twisting my ankle, wrenching my neck, shoulder, and wrists.
After having three spine surgeries, multiple joint replacements, and being diagnosed with advanced osteopenia and with multiple adverse reactions to drugs and chemicals, I was scared to death. When I screamed they did not have the right to inject me with anything, the paramedic argued, “Yes I do have the right, and I will continue injecting you until you pass out”.
They forced me onto a gurney, leaving bruises on my arm, etc, then loaded me into the back of a county ambulance. When I asked, “where are you taking me?” the paramedic said, to the hospital but refused to tell me which one. I had no way of knowing if my husband who is 78 even knew where they were taking me.
When I arrived at the Oak Hill Hospital ER two nurses and a first year intern, first day on the job and first hour in the ER had the EMS take me to a room, they snapped, “Take off your clothes.” That was just the tip of the iceberg. They ran a battery of urine, blood, serum tests convinced I had taken illegal drugs or overdosed on something. Instead, the only result they got back indicated some health problems (including possible cancer) AND a “raging UTI”. Instead of releasing me, their psychiatrist talked with an RN on the phone, stated I had given my verbal informed consent to be examined, then stated she could NOT Examine me “because I was unconscious and unable to cooperate.”
The Florida Baker Act is a dangerous law. There is no oversight. Patients have no rights. Physicians did NOT examine me. No one did. They knocked me out with strong medications. And, although I have made multiple formal requests of both the Citrus County EMS and Sheriff’s Dept as well as two hospitals for ALL my records, I am still waiting to any and all Baker Act documents. I was told I was being involuntarily held on a Baker Act hold – so where are the documents?
I was transported from my home during Hurricane Helene had made landfall and the second transport to Springbrook Hospital in Brooksville, FL 30 hours later was after it had been upgraded to a Cat4 and ambulances were being taken off the road. The ambulance rocked back and forth by the high winds and the rain was pounding down making it almost impossible to keep the ambulance on the road.
Springbrook psych hospital forced me to take an “anti-psychotic” drug saying, “We find people your age often benefit from being on anti-psychotics”. OMG. I went into anaphylaxis and could have died given their insane decision to force Albuterol 8-10 times – which I am SEVERELY allergic to.
I didn’t come home until eight days later after contracting a horrible upper respiratory infection and cough, rashes all over my body, an untreated UTI, and having NEVER been examined per the American Psychiatric Guidelines or pursuant to the law. I refused to take that drug, although they kept trying to slip it to me morning and night. They did nothing except make me sick. I was unable to speak normally, finding it difficult to find ordinary words, likely because I suffered one or more TIA’s while held involuntarily and against my will.
Although I need x-rays and/or CT scans, I am terrified to go to an ER, the VA – it was a couple’s therapist who call 9.1.1. saying I was catatonic and in a stupor state because I refused to continue engaging with her when she kept hammering away at me about having a colonoscopy. She was over her skies, had no right to interfere with my medical decisions, and she got angry when I shut down.
My husband is 67 & has dementia. He was given a sleeping med by his PCP, on 3/1. That was the 1st & last dosage I have given him. It effected his dementia. The 4th he was “Baker Acted.” The hospital said that he wasn’t medically cleared to go to a psychiatric facility. On 3/11 at 11 AM he was medically discharged. Which meant according to the hospital that his Baker Acting started. Was given a run around. I was also told that I couldn’t find out anything about his care. Anyways finally at 5 pm on 3/14 he was released. Which is well over the 72 hour hold. They made up one excuse after another.
Please consider filling out an abuse report form at https://www.cchrflorida.org/report-psychiatric-abuse/