Officials at Designated Hospital That Refused to Admit Emergency Detainee Can Be Held in Contempt, but Permitted to Refuse Admission if Hospital Lacks Adequate Space or Staff
In re Contempt of Wabash Valley Hosp., Inc., 827 N.E.2d 50 (Ind. Ct. App. 2005)
In a case characterized as exemplifying "a national trend," the Indiana Court of Appeals held that a trial court has the authority to determine that hospital officials violated the law when they refused to admit a man deemed mentally ill and dangerous and judicially committed for a seventy-two-hour emergency detention. However, the appellate court vacated a contempt order and ordered a rehearing because the trial judge failed to give hospital officials an opportunity to explain their decision to deny admission...