Wow, some real terrible One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest stuff in the article. I didn't know people were still getting involuntarily committed to asylums and forced to take medication based on some doctor's vibes. Thought that ended decades ago!

And, of course, the hospital is successfully hiding behind a coerced "agreement" and court procedure technicalities. So there will be no justice because a State Court did this and a District judge said that, and a Federal Court moved this way and an Appellate Court moved that way. Typical Court-Chess without regard to the actual injured person.

It changed decades ago, but it didn't end.

One of the more amusing conceits is that of “voluntary treatment”, as there is in fact no such thing. If you insist on leaving, asserting that you're there “voluntarily”, you will simply become an involuntary patient.

This is HIGHLY state dependent. I'm not sure about Maryland, but in NY and PA getting an involuntary hold in the first place is VERY difficult, and they are limited to 2-3 months before another judge has to approve an extension.

Most of that stuff stopped when federal funds stopped supporting it, but the ACA brought those funds back.