What are the US laws regarding court ordered involuntary hold in hospital when no mental illness is present at the time?

Answer 1

There is no federal law which addresses the specifics of involuntary commitment for mental evaluation of persons suspected of being a danger to themselves, or others, by virtue of mental illness.

These laws, where they exist, are promulgated by the individual states and, while they all share a certain similarity, they are not alike in every respect.

It must be emphasized that these individuals are NOT "under arrest" in the generally understood sense of the word. They are being civilly committed for the safety of themselves and others, and the provisions of criminal law procedures generally do not apply.

They usually empower a medical professional or (in some states) a law enforcement officer to swear to an affidavit that in their sworn opinion and experience that the person to be committed was observed committing a dangerous or irrational act or acts, in which they or others, could have been injured.

This affidavit accompanies the person to a hospital where they are temporarily committed (usually for 72 hours +/-) for mental evaluation by trained medical professionals. At the end of the observation period if the evaluation does not substantiate the existence of a mental condition, the person can be released. If the observation DOES confirm a mental condition, then the court is petitioned to commit the person via judicial order.

With regards to the commitment being "court ordered," the court would have had to receive medical testimony to support such an order and anyone, or any institution, holding an individual under such an order is merely obeying a (presumably) lawful order of the court and can be held blameless for any charge of 'holding someone against their will.'

Insofar as the statement that "no mental illness is present," that is usually ALWAYS the claim of the committed individual and/or their family.