Need help for a dual diagnosed person. my husband is bipolar and is addicted to alcohol and crack cocaine. he has medicare and federal blue cross and blue shield. he is danger to himself and family. i baker acted him numerous times but his psychiatrist ge

In : In the state of florida, the marchman act addresses getting help for individuals with serious problems with substance abuse, who are not open to treatment. This law can help families through the courts to get loved ones into court ordered and court monitored "intervention assessment stabilization, or detoxification, and long-term treatment". A family member can petition the court . Under the baker act, which is specific for psychiatric conditions, even if he has known psychiatric diagnoses, his doctor can only detain him against his will for a brief period unless there is court intervention and he is deemed to be at imminent risk to self or others. I suggest you obtain legal advice. Additionally, do not remain in the home iwith your spouse if you are afraid that you or your son are in danger. You can ask the police who intervened for local contact information regarding domestic violence advocacy. If is important that a safety plan be developed. "knights of kindness" lists a number of florida resources that may be beneficial.

You : You should call the dept. Of children and families for additional assistance (this is usually referred to as dcf). If you feel that you and/or your children are at imminent danger of harm, but the doctors and police will not assist you, you can go down you your local county courthouse, and request the procedure to obtain an "ex parte" (pronounced: ex partay) baker act. You will need to write down exactly what he is doing that is placing you and/or the children at immediate risk, and that part is key, so be sure to make that part expecially clear. Whatever judge is on hand will usually review it and they almost always support them... Then you need to start contacting the hospital where he is taken, and speak to the social worker/case manager (not the M.D.). If you haven't contacted dcf yet, she will probably either suggest that you do, or call them for you... Ideally, you should ask her to help you with that, if you haven't contacted them already. With any luck, she will also voice your concerns (and the fact that dcf is involved) in the treatment team meetings, and it will become much more difficult for his M.D. To cut him loose from the baker act status, and send him home. It has been my experience that bipolar patients have a tendency to "seal over", and start saying all the right things, quickly after being sent to the hospital, which, in this day and age, with insurance companies pushing the hospitals to discharge anyone not actively threating to kill somebody now, and of course this being america, and all, often tends to get them out of the hospital before i would really consider them entirely safe to go... And yes, that is often my professional opinion, so I have often been in the position of having to go up against the insurance companies, and it can really help if there is some fresh information coming from family members, supporting the patient's current high risk status.