Can a Baker Act refuse treatment?
Yes, a person can refuse treatment if it was determined during the initial examination that the person is competent to consent. If the person was deemed incompetent then the facility must to have a guardian advocate appointed. For more information on the Baker Act...
What happens if you get Baker Acted?
Usually a person who is Baker Acted is transported to a psychiatric facility by law enforcement for an initial examination by a psychiatrist. Once at the facility the person can be held involuntarily for up to 72 hours. Click here for more information on the Baker...
What are Parental Rights?
Even before the current pandemic scare, Florida parents have worried about protecting their children, particularly at school. The fact that children were being regularly taken from school without prior parental notice or agreement for involuntary psychiatric...
Six-year-old Allegedly Forcibly Drugged in Psychiatric Facility: CCHR Demanding Answers
With all the media coverage and outrage over six-year-old Nadia Falk’s forced stay and alleged drugging in a Florida psychiatric facility this February, a deeper question is raised. What is the justification for the psychiatric drugging of children, and especially the...
Baker Act Reform Continues to Leave Parents Out of the Solution
The mental health law in Florida, commonly called the Baker Act, allows for anyone, no matter their age, to be taken into custody for an involuntary psychiatric examination. This includes children and during 2017-2018 there were a staggering 36,078 involuntary...
Electroshock: Therapy or Torture? Exhibit Held in Tallahassee Rotunda
The Florida chapter of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), a mental health watchdog that investigates and exposes abuses in the mental health industry, held a two-day exhibit on electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), also known as electroshock, in the Florida...
CCHR Encourages the Public to Report Psychiatric Abuse and Fraud
With the recent passage of the federal stimulus package, which allocated $425 million for mental health services and an additional $1.32 billion for community mental health centers, the Citizens Commission on Human Rights International announced that they will be...
The Unworkability of Suicide Risk Assessments
Suicide is the second-leading cause of death in young people in the US today and suicide risk assessment is often touted as the answer but experts in the field have repeatedly concluded that there is not any one scale that can predict who will commit suicide to any...
Parental Rights
Introduction It is a fundamental right of parents to direct the upbringing, education, and care of their minor children. The U.S. Congress has decreed that based upon the Constitutional rights and human rights of all citizens, important information relating to a minor...
CCHR Calls Involuntary Psychiatric Examination of Children in Florida a Human Rights Abuse
Over the past two weeks there has been a viral reporting of the tragic involuntary psychiatric examination of a 6-year-old girl in Jacksonville, Florida. Called a Baker Act, involuntary psychiatric examination is part of the Florida mental health law and it applies to...
Watchdog Calling for an Investigation into the Baker Acting of Children in Florida
In 2018 an astounding 36,078 involuntary psychiatric examinations were initiated on children in Florida, an almost 19% increase over the past four years. [1] Called a Baker Act, an involuntary examination of a minor allows for a child to be taken into custody and...
CCHR Warns: Baker Acting the Elderly Can be Fatal Due to ‘Transfer Trauma’
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...
CCHR Kicks Off 2020 Campaign with an Open House to Raise Awareness on Abuse of Mental Health Laws
The Florida chapter of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), a non-profit watchdog organization that exposes and eradicates abuses in the mental health industry, will be hosting a series of Open House events starting January 4th 2020 to kick off its 2020...
Surge in Children on Dangerous Psychiatric Drugs Not Just a U.S. Problem
Today in the United States approximately 7.2 million children between the ages of 0 to 17 are using prescription psychiatric drugs, and almost half of them are on drugs due to being labeled with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). This epidemic of...Contact CCHR Florida
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