Orange County officials have advised a coalition of hospitals and emergency room physicians that it would be up to designated hospital facilities, not the County, to determine whether their emergency room physicians could be authorized to release 5150 (psychiatric emergency) involuntary holds not meeting state criteria. The hospital/ER physician coalition had asked the County to designate emergency room physicians to perform this function.

Under current County policy, emergency room physicians are trained and designated to write involuntary holds but are not designated to release them. Sometimes, patients arrive in hospital emergency rooms on a law-enforcement-initiated 5150 hold, but skilled medical personnel determine that the patient is suffering from causes that are not related to mental health emergencies and that are readily stabilized through other means.

The ability to release holds that do not meet criteria will expedite appropriate care for patients and help prevent emergency room crowding.

Contact: Julie Puentes
(714) 663-0294, jpuentes@hasc.org