Amanda Bynes 5150 Involuntary Hold

Online, October 8, 2013 (Newswire.com) - What if Amanda Bynes was a normal person put on a 5150?

In July, Bynes was hospitalized on a 5150 involuntary psychiatric hold after she started a small fire in a resident's driveway in Thousand Oaks, Calif. The night before, Bynes was involved in an serious altercation with a cab driver and the police in a retirement community. Bynes' three-day hold was extended to two weeks to allow doctors to properly diagnose her. The hold was later extended to 30 days.

A 5150 involuntary hold refers to the Welfare and Institution code (WIC) 5150 which is a legal hold imposed on a person who is believed to be in need of an involuntary hospitalization. 5150 allows for the involuntary psychiatric hospitalization for up to 72 hours. 5150 is the most common type of psychiatric hold and usually happens if a person is believed to be a combination of one of the following three things: A danger to themselves, a danger to others, and/or severely disabled by a mental disorder. A 5150 involuntary psychiatric hospitalization was put into law as a way to protect the mentally ill and the people around them. In theory, under the involuntary holds law, people would not be held against their will unless completely necessary. Unfortunately, there is a widespread fear of the mentally handicapped in this country and it is not uncommon for safe people to be held under the 5150 umbrella.

If Amanda Bynes was a mother, teacher, police officer, lawyer or businesswoman the consequences could be much worse. She could lose her job, child custody, parental rights, civil and constitutional rights. A 5150 hold can be detrimental to a person's record. The effects of this hold being placed on your record could impact future employment, your civil rights, and much more.

With the potentially devastating effects this hold can have on someone's life, finding a good attorney may make all the difference. Many people who have had a 5150 look to get it legally removed from their record.

After doing an extensive search through the phonebook, yellow pages, legal directories, I did not find a lawyer who had experience practicing this. The only one was a State Bar of California certified lawyer referral service, RepresentYou. I spoke with the COO Gabe Dominocielo who stated: "finding a good and experienced lawyer for a 5150 is difficult and very expensive." Doiminocielo would not quote a retainer but went on to say: "It is not like doing a DUI expungement, in some cases one of our lawyers may need to do a writ of habeas corpus, which is very time consuming."

For the average person the consequences of a 5150 would be much more costly, professionally and legally. "RepresentYou.com has a panel of competent attorneys, all of whom have a minimum of 20 years practicing law, with trial-tested experience handling 5150, 5250, 5270, and 5260 involuntary hold expungements." says COO Gabe Dominocielo.