E.J. contacted me recently about a journalist from the New York Blade who was writing a piece on Zach’s predicament. He wanted to know if I was willing to have this journalist contact me. It’s interesting, because I don’t really see myself as highly involved in this situation. I post about it as much as I can because I know people read my blog, but I haven’t been able to go to the protests. I see myself more as a publicist. I post about Zach here, and I put up a lot of links on Tribe. That’s about it.
I was contacted, and I answered the questions, but I told the journalist that my Dad was the one who had really been looking into the mental health laws and writing to "a gajillion Tennessee Health Agencies." He was the guy to talk to. Dad was contacted, and his response to the journalist (similar to the one to a gajillion) was as follows:
It is quite confusing. The Tennessee Mental Health Code is here. In general, it follows the Codes that are common throughout the United States. Involuntary Commitment requires that a person be both mentally ill and dangerous to self or others [meaning suicidal or homicidal]. Voluntary admission to a mental heath facility is something parents of minors can sign, independent of the child’s wishes. The issues here are multiple:
- Is Love in Action a Mental Health Facility? I found no evidence that it is, but I had access to only the internet and they haven’t responded to my requests for information. Nothing on their site suggests any certification of any kind.
- Are the people working at Love in Action mental health professionals? That one seems to be clear. No they aren’t.
- Does Zach have a mental illness? As best one can determine, he’s a kid who told his parents he is gay. Homosexuality is not classified as a mental illness by any scientific discipline. As you will see on their site, Love in Action defines it as not mental illness.
- Is Zach dangerous? He says no. Certainly homosexuality isn’t dangerous.
- Zach is 16 years old. Here’s what the Tennessee law says: 33-8-202 [NEW; derived from former §§ 33-6-101 and 33-6-102] (a) If a child with serious emotional disturbance or mental illness is sixteen (16) years of age or older, the child has the same rights as an adult with respect to outpatient and inpatient mental health treatment, medication decisions, confidentia linformation, and participation in conflict resolution procedures under this title except as provided inpart 3 of this chapter or as otherwise expressly provided in this title. If the child’s parent,legal guardian, legal custodian, or treating professional believes that the child’s decision to terminatetreatment, other than a
request for discharge under chapter 6, part 2 of this title, will havesevere adverse effects on the child, the conflict resolution procedures under chapter 2, part 6 of this title shall be used.
So, I can see nothing that suggests that Love in Action would have any reason to hold a kid against his will. It’s not a hospital; It’s not staffed by trained professionals; Zach’s not mentally ill; and Zach’s not dangerous.
The only possibilities are that:
- Zach’s parents signed him in. That wouldn’t hold up in any court anywhere for the reasons enumerated above.
- Zach was coerced into signing himself in. There’s no way to verify that, as Love in Action won’t respond. The only way to deal with that would be through legal channels.
Even if he was induced to sign himself into the program, they would be hard pressed to defend his being voluntary. See his blog entries: Link 1, Link 2, Link 3, Link 4
In their press conference, they skirted any statements about Zach, or legality. They had a series of testimonials. To me, this is something of an unimaginable situation, reminiscent of the mid-19th Century when people were committed to Hospitals by families for all sorts of things. Certainly, in my 30+ years as a Psychiatrist in public mental health facilities, academic medicine, and private practice, I never saw any such thing. It seems to me that rather than marching around the Love in Action facility, marching to the office of the Mental Health Commissioner ofthe State of Tennessee or the American Civil Liberties Union would be abetter strategy. Although it’s possible that there are some otherfactors involved, Zach appears to be a person who has been deprived of his Constitutional rights without due process of law – because he’s gay.
I’m not directly involved in any of this. I was just incredulous when my daughter called it to my attention and got interested. I’m sorry I don’t have any direct information to give you. But I agree that this story needs to be told.
Abby’s Dad, M.D.
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As a mental health professional (to be, as I’m not yet licensed, just like Love in Action!), I know this unfortunate statement to be true: "Emotional abuse is difficult to prove in the state of Tennessee," said Pamela Dickey, director of the advocacy center for Childhelp USA in Knoxville. "You have to document that the child is undergoing depression or suicidal ideation, that he can’t sleep, or can’t eat."
Still, there is happy news via today’s New York Blade. And if you’re keeping up, here are the latest "Zach Love in Action" posts tracked on Blogpulse. For the record, EJ and Dad are impressing the shit out of me. We might just get Zach busted out of that hellhole, or even better still, we might shut the evil place down!
