Please give feedback on a petition I've started

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I've started a petition on change.org because I'm interested in changing the laws in the state I live in. Without going into detail here, I'm hoping a few of you would take a look at it and give me some feedback, good or bad, but please be constructive.


Petition on Change.org



Of course, feel free to sign if you choose to, but in no way feel as if you should if it is not something you support.

Thanks!

Hi, I think that what you're proposing is a good idea, but I'd like to suggest a modification...

The parents should be questioned and the "child" should be thoroughly assessed by a professional. This way, people aged 18-26 won't feel as though their rights are being infringed upon, or that they are being condescended.

As I said, I support your idea, but most people would be very uncomfortable with their parents holding complete control over their health care, even though they are at or above the legal age of consent.

The courts would block it. Adults are Adults in the United States, and if the courts rarely allow prisoners to be forcibly medicated, it's unlikely they would be willing to allow a law that allows adults to be subject to someone else's medical decisions.

as with elections in america, i dont think US politicians are willing to rock the status quo unless you live in a swing state.

The OP's petition was to the laws of her(?) home state. It would be struck down based on Federal Court rulings, but she's asking for a new state law.

I don't think it's a good idea. Once you an adult your an adult.

26 is also really to old. I've had and paid for my own insurance since I was 22, I would not welcome my parents being able to legally get and view all my medical records.

Thanks for the input and realistic criticism. I agree that under the ideal and average circumstances, such an infringement would be unwanted and unwarranted. That's the problem that I'm trying to overcome with sampling the public with the petition.

I'm hoping to find a way to protect the young adult and their families from the very laws that are in place which are meant to uphold their rights to freedom in regards to their choice to refuse mental health treatment. Of course, nobody wants to be subjected to mental health care if they believe they are well, but the laws do not protect those who have anosognosia (do not realize or comprehend that they are not well or are succumbing to symptoms that are potentially dangerous to themselves or those around them).

I have been living through this scenario for the past few years. My son, who is a young adult, was beginning to have what the doctors have been saying is AS related debilitating OCD. (He's currently being assessed, so that preliminary diagnosis may change) He was living at home, and exhibiting behaviors that were becoming more and more dangerous to himself and those here at home and his friends in the community. Knowing that whatever he was going through was rendering him unable to work and go to school and therefore survive on his own, I could not kick him out. Having him here was growing in difficulty. Despite having to call for ambulances for him numerous times over the course of a year, the peace officers, ambulance drivers and medical community could not make him get treatment if he refused, despite it being very apparent that he needed help.

Long story short, he eventually wound up in the regional hospital that has a psychiatric ward, of his own accord. He never consented to treatment; he had finally deteriorated to the point of visible incoherence when a police officer found him in a public park. From there, he was committed (by legal procedure) to the state mental hospital where they insisted he is schizophrenic and psychotic and put on medications which his current neuropsychologist believes is the wrong course of treatment for someone who appears more to have AS/HFA. I've since accepted legal guardianship of my adult son....and now he's getting proper care. But why should it ever have to come to that in a civilized, modern society?

What I'm wanting to accomplish, is to protect young people from having to go through such horrible circumstances before they get the treatment they deserve, and to protect the parents from not being able to help their children just because they have reached the age of legal maturity. Had the hospital been able to accept consent from me on behalf of my son the second time he wound up in the emergency room, I and my family may have been able to prevent my son from deteriorating to a dangerous point. It might have saved my family from the experiences which have left us all tired and suffering from anxiety and ptsd. In using my family as an example, I know this circumstance is widespread and not isolated to just us. I've met families who've kicked out their son/daughter because they were unmanageable, or they believed it was defiance, or drugs....and in some ways maybe all of that. ... Those children may never get the help they need and deserve.

There are laws such as Kendra's Law in some states (USA), but it has been presented to legislature here in New Mexico 11 times and has not passed, because of the consideration of infringement on the rights of adults. ..... And I completely understand and agree with protection of civil rights....however, in a time when the person is living at home and in a mentally incapacitated state, I believe the family should have the right to help their child.


I'd appreciate more input, and perhaps brainstorming if any are willing. I was considering to bring this matter to state legislature this next session. This coming session is too soon, so I'll be working on finding a way to present this idea in a more refined way next year. I like to hear criticism. I'm not sensitive, so congenial honesty is most welcome. Maybe by hearing opposing viewpoints, I can reach a solution eventually that appeases the majority of persons.

This could backfire.

Making it permissible for a parent to have medical authority over their 18-26 year old offspring will make them accountable for that offspring's actions.

Thus, a parent of a 22 year old pyromaniac could be held legally and civilly accountable for the pyro burning down a nursing home with 37 people inside, even though the pyro is on the west coast and the parent is 2000 miles away on the east coast.

Especially if the parent knows about the offspring's pyromania and does nothing about it, regardless of financial ability or geographical distance.

Bad idea.

Bad, bad idea.

The alternative was allowing my son to become a ward of the state and potentially living the rest of his years in mental institutions with wrong diagnoses and wrong treatment.
Thankfully there are set legal standards concerning "neglect" and "culpability".

I am sorry that you had to go through that.

But I don't think your petition will gain support, quite simply put. You are taking away the rights of adults, and that does not go over well. Also, extending it to 26 is absurd. Many people by the time they are 26 are well established, with homes, families, wives, but their mom still makes their doctors appointments and signs for procedures? Also keep in mind that many people move away from home. How practical will it be for someone living in Montana to get mom's permission for a medical treatment when she lives in New York?

I suggest changing your focus to look at the involuntary commitment laws. Maybe there are ways we can make it a little easier to get someone help against their will, while still balancing the rights of the adult.

Or maybe looking at ways to improve the procedure for gaining legal guardianship of an adult.

By focusing on those situations, you are more likely to gain support than telling thousands of perfectly normal, healthy 18-26 year olds you want to strip them of their right to manage their own healthcare.

I agree wholeheartedly in all that thewhitrbbit said. And realize that my idea of a petition, although naive, at the least prompted candid responses to the reasons why the laws need change but are difficult to change. I would have balked at the idea of my parents having more control over my life when I was that age.

The problems I'm seeing are navigating between the fact that most young adults need no such protection as the few which do need protection.

The involuntary commitment laws in my state are clear and upon reading seem very reasonable, however, the interpretation and implementation of them are not clear and leave the person in need to flounder to the point of such severe endangerment that by then it's nearly too late to help them. In some cases which I've read about in the local news it's been too late for the families.

To give you an idea of how the legal system deals with people seeking help for their family members in my region: I called the district attorney to discuss my difficulties in getting my son help. I told him of my dealings with the emergency medical technicians, police officers and emergency room personnel and how despite it being pretty clear that my son needed help, they would not treat him if he was in tact to time, location and person. I asked him how does one get a person help when they need it but don't want it, and cited the laws governing emergency commitment. His response to me by telephone was, "I'm sorry Ms. K, but suicide is not illegal in the state of New Mexico."! !! First of all, I had NEVER MENTIONED SUICIDE anywhere in the conversation, secondly, how callous of any public entity to suggest that there's not one single thing a mother can do if their adult child was to incidentally endanger himself to the point of death!!

This needs to change. Now that I'm through these situations to the point where my son is at least in a safe place, getting assessed and care, I feel the need and desire to help make it less likely to wind up going through what my family and I have.


I have an old friend who is a state representative. Her background is in law, and we've worked together on a couple of much lighter projects for a time. I'm going to see if she'll take this on or guide me.



I really want to thank you all for your responses and insight.

Interesting, in some states suicide is actually illegal, although never prosecuted.

My advice is to work ways to help the few without trampling the rights of the many. I think it can be done.