"On June 3, outspoken child advocate Connie Fielding, of Midway, was taken by her LDS stake president to a hospital for involuntary commitment to a lockdown psych ward. She was released 18 days later when, because of the outcry of her friends, her case garnered national attention from a group called Lawless America and a volunteer lawyer took her case before a judge, who ordered her release.

At noon on June 3, Fielding met with her stake president in his office. Within 30 minutes, she was being driven to the McKay-Dee Hospital in Ogden, two hours away. By 2:30 p.m., court papers show, Fielding, 51, was 'involuntarily committed' to the hospital's psychiatric unit....

....On Thursday, Fielding said she got a $36,600 bill from the psych ward for her 'involuntary commitment.' "

http://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/midway-woman-alleges-lds-leader-had-her-involuntarily-committed/article_52f4fd79-b61b-5c8f-9c6d-1eb67afc5fd6.html

WHAT??? All of a sudden, any a-hole off the street can have you committed to a psych ward?? I'm guessing this Stake Pres didn't have a psychiartic license, nor was he next of kin, so how in the hell did they admit her under HIS authority? Oh, that's right, its Utah... If the stake pres says it, it MUST be true.

This is sickening.

This sounds like a real mess..It can be pretty hard to involuntarily commit someone to a psych unit. I think there might be alot more to this story than just an SP trying to involuntarily commit her.

It sounds like a he said, she said argument. I'm glad to be out of the church and their meetings behind close doors.

The comments for the article are sickening. Nearly everyone says that she's a liar & a crazy person. 1 person compare her to Jodie Arias. Many people go on to say that women seeking custody of their children are all liars.

The story doesn't quite add up right for me.

I want to see a copy of the commitment papers. If the Stake Pres. signature is on it, then he needs his feet held to the fire.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/15/2013 12:29PM by imaworkinonit.

Look at her quote... good MORMON moms.... of course you need that qualifier. Her mind is firmly controlled by the cult.

She is irrational and terrifying. She schematizes all men that want child custody as abusive and manipulative men who don't actually want the children. If she was my ex-wife, I would do everything in my power to remove my children from her custody.

Because of her extremely skewed perception of reality, I cannot take her words as reliable. I need further confirmation to understand the depth to which she was manipulated by her stake president. [If the SP broke the law, let him suffer.]

I think there may be more to this story than we know. I know a medical professional can have you committed, which is probably what happened in this case. The stake president just drove her to the hospital. Just a guess, I could be wrong.

I BELIEVE IT! When I was going through my divorce,I got an unexspected phone call from Valley Mental Health saying" The Bishop Has approved the funds to committ you, and were coming to get you in 45 min.!! I told her NO! Im not a danger to myself or thers!" Arent you worried about your mental health? (I had been crying alot. ) Yes, But I think the bishop is sympathic to my husband & doest want to see him pay child support", "Oh I never thought of that". She didnt come.

So even if the SP had tried to commit her why would a supposedly independent counselor approve it after interviewing her? Do we have any available information that says she was a danger to her self or others?

If it were that easy to involuntarily commit someone then I think you would see a lot more involuntary commitments..

MY GUESS IS THE INDEPENDANT COUSLER WANTED TO ERROE ON THE SIDE OF CAUTION. If they didnt and the person was violent than theyd be held responsible.

like $5 for lunch money for the kids. He wasn't paying me anything. His boyfriend would be screaming in the background, "Tell her we are going to commit her." He hoped they could get me committed so they could have the kids and be a little happy family.

Everything I did was questionable to them. Can't believe I'm friends with my ex now.

How dare we be hysterical when it comes to divorce and custody of our children?'

I have to admit though (I didn't read the article), there are those moms (and dads) who should be committed.

I agree that there can be ulterior motives for having someone committed, but that doesn't mean that they were committed.

I mean, you never were committed even though your ex's boyfriend threatened it..

I don't think necessarily that divorce and child custody were the issues here. custody was not an issue because her children were all over 18 (the youngest just graduated from high school). The divorce was in 1996....

But...she was having some issues with her youngest son,had just lost a job and was living in a motel...So I don't know. It just sounds to me like she may have been having a mental health crisis.. There just is not enough independent information to make a decision. She was released after 18 days and judicial review, but that doesn't mean that the hospitalization was or was not warranted. Just that a Judge felt that it was resolved.

According to the article she was committed following an interview with a crisis worker who also had spoken to friends and family stating that she was delusional...

I don't know. It sounds like she had some serious issues and the commitment might have been warranted. It is just hard to say when the information is so lacking.

There are A LOT of manipulative people in this state (Utah),

I've been the victim of extremely manipulative people, including my mother. As I grew up my mother told others I was selling drugs, a satan worshiper, that I'd been sexually molested by my father, and more. (I did none of it and hadn't been sexually abused.) My mother was able to get many people to believe her. Not only did/does she work on convincing others of her stories but she uses the judicial system to control who she can. My dad stood on trial for molesting my sister. He was acquitted. (This isn't the end of what has occurred.)
Without getting into details, my sister's ex-husband has been using his children and the judicial system to try and control her. He was controlling, manipulative and abusive in the marriage.

I too felt there was more to this story than reported however, based on my experiences I felt it could go either way. I won't discount this woman's story however, I'm also aware she could have psychiatric issues, or it could be a combination of both. Maybe the woman in the story has been manipulated so often by others that it has caused psychiatric issues.

I can't believe how much information the church gave out! Confidentiality means nothing to them.

Interesting. I have represented people wrongly committed. I have also had cases where I almost called 911 because a client was threatening suicide...only holding back because of being pretty certain they did not mean it at that time. Actually, the most difficult decisions are whether to call 911 when a client is threatening to kill someone. Fortunately, I was always able to pretty much decide they were just venting and any danger was too speculative. I have always considered this one of the most difficult decision an attorney will ever have to make.

When I served in the state senate I got a call from a constituent who said she was on the 8th floor of her building on the balcony and was threatening to jump. After trying to calm her down, I called 911 and the police were there even before I could get there - the headquarters being only two blocks away. She wasn't happy about my call. She probably did not vote for me in the next election.

If the woman was so concerned about what the SP was doing, why did she let him drive her so far to the hospital? The basic rules require a psychiatrist to interview the person pretty quickly. On the other hand, the SP was either someone with a lot of courage to take a suicidal person for so long a trip, or he knew that was really safe and didn't need a hospital stay.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/15/2013 02:15PM by rhgc.

rhgc Wrote:
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> If the woman was so concerned about what the SP was doing, why did she let him drive her so far to the hospital?

She has serious medical issues, and she thought that the SP was volunteering to have her treated at the church's expense. She thought she was going to a regular hospital, not a psych hospital.

That explains a lot. By representing the trip as for medical treatment, he had no reason to fear a reaction. What was his relation, I wonder, concerning the woman's husband. Also, it would help to know whether it was the nearest hospital or one was easiest to get someone committed. Past psychiatric history would also be relevant.

My guess is that she is a bit unstable, and that the Stake President drove her to the hospital. We don't know the whole story. Perhaps she made threatening statements about harming herself or others.

This is the law in Utah regarding emergency hospitalization for the purpose of evaluation [and possible commitment on a temporary basis].

Here in California, it's known as a 72-hour hold.

UT
UTAH CODE ANN.
§ 62A-15-629(1)(a)(ii)
§ 62A-15-629(2)

[A] licensed physician or designated examiner certifies] the individual as mentally ill and, because of his mental illness, is likely to injure himself or others if not immediately restrained.

If a duly authorized peace officer observes a person involved in conduct that gives the officer probable cause to believe that the person is mentally ill… and because of that apparent mental illness and conduct, there is a substantial likelihood of serious harm to that person or others, pending proceedings for examination and certification under this part, the officer may take that person into protective custody.

But, alas, this is Utah, where church and state are tightly bound together. I am horrified if it truly did occur the way the woman describes.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/15/2013 02:24PM by Senoritalamanita.

It is Utah and Church and state do mingle, but I think we would see a lot more involuntary commitments if it it was that easy.....I am just not convinced she was railroaded..

I just don't see much of a motive..What would her Stake President have to gain?

whiskeytango Wrote:
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> I just don't see much of a motive..What would her Stake President have to gain?

He effectively silenced an uppity woman who had been a pain in the butt for local authorities and priesthood holders.

I'm not saying that I agree with her or disagree...there's not enough information from this article to make a call...but that she was willing to be very vocal in the community about something that she believed in.

Did it silence her though? Surely, he knew it wouldn't be for more than a few days? Is it possible she really was a threat to herself or others?

IT A BOOK WRITEN ABOUT PEOPLE WHO WHERE COMMITTED FOR THE WRONG REASONS. Often cause people just didnt like them.

I had a 72 hour in California (called a 5150). I had been in the ER, they gave me morphine, doctor was being sarcastic. I wiseassed him back, the 5150 was his way of getting revenge. After six days in the 'normal' hospital I was sent to a pysch ward. The pshrink at the Psych Facility agreed I had no reason to be there. "One flew over the cuckoos nest" is not fiction. I met Big Nurse.

What is the actual protocol in an LDS Church if a Mormon threatens to hurt himself/herself in church?

What is the protocol if that person has a gun, suggests he/she has a weapon, or threatens the safety of other ward members, including his/her LDS spouse?

If I was a Bishop and someone threatened the safety of others [or themselves], I would be inclined to call the police.
A Bishop has a responsibility to protect the safety of his church members.

Are there any ex-bishops here, or others who know what the protocol may be?

Women did in fact used to get thrown in the old "looney bin" for little or no reason.

While an emergency hold is a valuable resource for people who suffer and need help, the fact that Utah is generally 20-50 years behind the times means I wouldn't be that surprised whichever way the evidence ultimately shows.

Why did the SP go to Ogden from Midway? Certainly if he were interested in getting her help ASAP he would go to Provo or SLC. I think he had to go to Ogden based upon connections at that facility who would be compliant in this effort.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/15/2013 05:09PM by templeendumbed.

Even if she needed to be there, that facility stuck her with the bill, & there is no way in hell she's ever going to recover financially in order to pay for it.

Hmmm. If this works, could someone please do this with DoDo Holland and/or Boyd KKK Packer?

From reading the comments to the article - Radical Men's divorce group.

In Cali it is a 5150, and in Florida it is the Marchman Act.

This is a very real problem in many states and does NOT require a medical professional to commit someone.

It is most commonly done to newcomers to the AA or NA faith. All that has to happen is that a persons 'sponsor' (who has NO professional training whatsoever) reports to a court that the person has been drinking or using drugs and they will be held involuntarily. Additionally, all it takes is that sponsor to appear in front of a judge and claim their magic AA religious authority, and that hold will continue indefinitely, with the person and their insurance carrier getting a bill that is usually over a thousand dollars a day.

It should also be understood that these sponsors routinely counsel people to stop taking all medication, including high blood pressure meds, birth control pills, and insulin. This is done even though the counselors have NO medical training whatsoever, and the practice is always denied.

Here is a case documenting a death that happened because of these circumstances. Additionally, it is SO wrong of the Sacramento Bee not to publish the full name of the AA sponsor. That person should be in jail on manslaughter charges.

http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/preventable-death/content?oid=15280