5150 (involuntary psychiatric hold)

Section 5150 is a section of the California Welfare and Institutions Code (WIC) (in particular, the Lanterman–Petris–Short Act or "LPS") which authorizes a qualified officer or clinician to involuntarily confine a person suspected to have a mental disorder that makes him or her a danger to him- or herself, a danger to others, and/or gravely disabled. A qualified officer, which includes any California peace officer, as well as any specifically-designated county clinician, can request the confinement after signing a written declaration stating the psychiatric diagnosis that the diagnosing medical professional believes to be the cause or reason why they believe the patient to be "a danger to themselves or others" or the psychiatric disorder that has rendered the patient incapable of making their own medical treatment decisions.

In informal usage, 5150 (pronounced "fifty-one-fifty") can refer to the person being confined (e.g., "I have a possible 5150 here"), the declaration, or the act of committing someone (as in "(Someone) was 5150ed").

Popular culture

Largely because the production of American movies and television programs are based in California, usage of the term "5150" has spread beyond its original location and user population. The Van Halen album of the same name was named directly for the code section, and derivative uses followed.

See also

References

    External links

    This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, April 28, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.