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.
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St. Louis civil commitment process eased by video link to court
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.
ReplyDeleteOf course, I wonder why all that court going in necessary. Or is it?