
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 18, 1993                   TAG: 9308180123
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-4   EDITION: METRO  
SOURCE: LARRY W. BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

INVOLUNTARY TREATMENT: LAST RESORT

Nearly every day, John T. Molumphy III holds the fate of many mentally ill people in his hands. As a special justice, he decides whether they are dangers to themselves or others - and whether they should be committed to a hospital for psychiatric evaluation and treatment.

He is one of four special justices in the Roanoke Valley. The justices, who are appointed by the valley's chief circuit judge, handle about 20 to 25 hearings a week.

They are called on when police, doctors, families or others believe that someone needs to be hospitalized for psychiatric reasons.

Most of the time, people are put into the commitment process by family members who call mental health workers, Molumphy said. Only occasionally does the process start when a police officer encounters someone on the street with mental problems or gets called on in an emergency - when someone has barricaded himself in his home, for example.

If there is evidence someone represents a danger, police can generally hold him or her for up to four hours for an evaluation, usually performed by an emergency outreach counselor from Mental Health Services of Roanoke Valley.

The counselors may decide to let the person go; allow him to go to a hospital on his own; or send him to a psychiatric unit or other temporary detention center, generally for up to 48 hours. During that time, Molumphy or another special justice holds a hearing to decide whether the person needs to be committed for a longer period. The individual can go voluntarily or be committed.

Molumphy said incidents of mentally ill people harming someone else are relatively rare.

"The biggest number of mental patients are dangerous to themselves," he said. "Next, it's those with the inability to care for themselves. Those who pose a danger to others are the smallest number."

Molumphy said he orders hospital commitment in most of the cases he considers. In many of the rest, people are persuaded to voluntarily seek inpatient treatment.

Molumphy said the rate of commitment at hearings is so high because emergency outreach counselors and other mental health workers do everything they can - before a case reaches the point of a commitment hearing - to divert a person to outpatient treatment in the community.

A state study a few years ago showed that, overall, the Roanoke Valley's commitment rate was lower than other areas. "We just don't willy-nilly put people in the hospital and sort it out later," Molumphy said.

If someone is committed, he generally will stay until hospital officials decide he is ready to be released. The average involuntary stay is about two weeks, Molumphy said.

The individual has a right to a hearing every six months.

Staff writer Mike Hudson contributed to this story.

Memo: ***CORRECTION***

by CNB