As Several Celebs have recently been taken into medical custody for their own(and the Publics) Protection Under what we called "Sectioning" in UK Law
Basic information on this link
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/2204983.stm
Fuller Official details
My question is do the Authorites in North America use the same word to describe this legal process?

Bedstor! Haven't you been following the daily news of Britney Spears?

quote:

Originally posted by FredPuli:
Bedstor! Haven't you been following the daily news of Britney Spears?

Yes Fred and all they said in the Press was she was "Committed" which tells me nothing

Judging from the reports in Fox News (where else?), the system there very closely resembles ours viz there's a power exercisable then and there to 'arrest' someone who appears to be a danger to themself or others by reason of mental illness and to detain that person for a short time, perhaps 24 hours. Longer detention requires medical evidence and there's a third stage where the evidence in support of detention must be of two psychiatrists.

That's my impression, to be corrected. In California there's an intermediary stage which consists of a doctor who is famous for being on TV turning up , claiming that he knows the patient but mostly being more interested in the media coverage of him, and his being thrown out, protesting that he was only there to help (whatever the ethics committee thinks ). This is followed by a further stage when the patient's agent turns up and makes the same speech as that doctor, but adds that he demands a court give him total control of the patient's finances ( whatever the patient's father thinks )