An organization that advocates for people with disabilities filed a lawsuit this week alleging that the Florida Department of Children and Families has not gathered data and issued required reports about use of a law known as the Baker Act.
Disability Rights Florida wants a Leon County circuit judge to order the department to collect Baker Act data from mental-health facilities and produce reports.
The Baker Act allows for people with mental illness to be involuntarily held and treated at such facilities under certain circumstances. The lawsuit alleges, in part, that the department has not complied with a 2007 law that requires publishing reports and data about use of the Baker Act.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday, said the information, if collected, would “answer a number of important questions about use of the Baker Act such as how long an average patient is held, what conditions lead to shorter or longer stays, whether insured patients are being held longer than others, and whether patients insured by the state are being held for longer, costing the state more money, than others.”
The lawsuit said the data would help the non-profit Disability Rights Florida in monitoring psychiatric hospitals. It said the organization on Oct. 4 made a public-records request but that the department did not provide the requested information.
