u/LaceyVonTease

I recently discovered Necromerger and am really enjoying it.

What have you been enjoying lately?

In October 2024 I (36F) drove myself to an ER and voluntarily requested psychiatric help following self-harm. I was placed on a 5150 hold (mandatory 72-hour psychiatric hold) and was transferred twice, arriving at the facility where I would be held with my 72-hour hold already halfway expired.

I had never been on a 5250 before and had no knowledge of my rights. I was then placed on an involuntary 5250 hold the next day (mandatory 14-day psychiatric hold) under a 'gravely disabled' designation without a clear explanation of why.

What followed was a series of incidents I believe constitute serious violations of my patient rights under California's LPS Act. I'm looking for any guidance on recourse.

The issues I think are most serious:

1. Coerced waiver of my certification review hearing.

My caseworker told me that if I had my hearing with a judge and won early discharge, I would be going against my hospital's treatment plan and my insurance would not cover my stay, and I would be billed out-of-pocket for the full amount. I couldn't pay thousands of dollars so I told her I couldn't afford that and she told me that I needed to sign paperwork saying I waive my right to see a judge.

I later learned this is false under the LPS Act — patients have an explicit right to a certification review hearing without financial penalty. The other admission paperwork I was given but refused to sign (it was given to me days into my 5250 hold but stamped and pre-dated with my initial arrival date) even stated I had a "right to immediate appeal without financial risk," directly contradicting what she told me verbally.

2. Possible falsified medical record used to justify my hold.

When I got my medical records months later for an unrelated reason, I discovered my treating physician at the Psychiatric Hospital had written in his paperwork about me/reasoning for my hold was that he had a conversation with my Dad who said I was unstable and should remain hospitalized. My dad says this conversation never happened. My parents can both confirm that the only person who contacted our family during my stay was my caseworker, who spoke only with my mother — and my mother wanted me to come home and felt the 5250 hold was unnecessary.

If the reason I was kept there was based on a conversation with my dad that never happened, I want to know if that makes my 5250 hold illegal.

3. No explanation of my "gravely disabled" designation.

My treating physician never clearly explained the legal basis for my hold. The paperwork I was given about my 5250 hold was very vague ('danger to self', 'gravely disabled') and said to see more in the Welfare and Institutions Code (WIC 5008) which wasn't written out on my paperwork. When I pushed and asked my physician for an explanation, he vaguely said it was a lack of housing/food/income — none of which applied to me — then said there were "other things" and wouldn't elaborate.

Neither he nor my caseworker could provide the WIC 5008 documentation I was legally entitled to. Front desk staff had to Google it and print it out for me. I requested this information 4 times in total.

4. Told to sign discharge paperwork before discharge was decided.

My caseworker had me sign discharge papers before any discharge decision had been made. I asked her if I was being released that day — she said she had no idea and told me it "didn't matter." She then sat with me and told me what I should write on my own safety plan and discharge paperwork statement. I was released the following day.

Additional issues that I believe form a broader pattern of neglect and rights violations:

• Being denied the ability to file a complaint in-facility by staff
• Receiving the wrong medication dosage from the medication cart
• Being left without adequate clothing in a co-ed unit for extended periods — I was left in a backroom upon arrival for several hours, not given pants that fit, told I wasn't allowed to wear my leggings and had to go on the co-ed floor without any alternative pants given to me (I refused and was harassed about this by staff until I was in tears); my roommate was left in her underwear and wrapped in a bedsheet for several days without pants because staff said they had nothing in her size and she would have to wait for the donations bin. All patients were told if they had no scrubs for us we would have to wait for something to show up in donations.
• A male patient sexually assaulting my roommate, with no security ever present during my stay
• Being given a discharge packet containing financial resources for blood cancer patients (I have never had cancer) — my caseworker used the direct phone number for a blood cancer charity as a resource on my discharge paperwork
• A discharge date recorded in my IOP psychiatrist's chart as one day earlier than when I actually left the facility

What I've already tried:

I contacted Disability Rights California after discharge but my case was closed based on a miscommunication — the intake worker misheard my statement and recorded that I had already seen a judge, which was false. I also contacted the Alameda County Patient Rights Advocate directly after discharge but was told they could only have helped me while I was inpatient. I was in severe depression at the time and couldn't follow up. I'm only now in a position to pursue this.

My questions:

1. Does the false information about my hearing rights constitute a coerced waiver that can be challenged?
2. If a physician documented a family conversation that the family says never happened, is that actionable — and does it affect the legality of the hold itself?
3. What type of attorney handles LPS Act violations? Are there state agencies I should also be filing with?
4. Can I re-approach DRC after all this time given my case was closed on incorrect information?
5. Does documented depression affect the statute of limitations given the gap since October 2024?

Location: Northern California, Alameda County.