Sunday, January 4, 2009

Video Conference

An elderly St. Louis woman who was hospitalized with dementia always begged her doctor not to make her go to court.

"I hope I don't get the death penalty," she would say every three weeks as paramedics strapped her to a gurney and drove her in an ambulance to the St. Louis Circuit Court.

State law required her to attend a hearing every 21 days because she was involuntarily committed to Barnes-Jewish Hospital's mental ward. The trip scared her every time.

Now the trip is unnecessary, thanks to a new video conference system in the St. Louis Circuit Court. Patients and doctors can appear by closed-circuit television without leaving the hospital.

Installed last spring, it has been hailed by the Missouri Supreme Court and is beginning to be copied by other Missouri circuit courts.

Full Article and Source:
St. Louis civil commitment process eased by video link to court

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The video conference is a good thing for this woman and I am glad she is relieved of the worry and stress of going to court.

Of course, I wonder why all that court going in necessary. Or is it?