Thank you for your time in considering this bill from the viewpoint of the many Virginia families dealing with a loved one’s mental illness. Please pass this bill. It provides 2 caveats to permitting others: safety risk and medical risk. The facility has taken extraordinary safety precautions by isolating the ECO subject from the rest of the facility and having law enforcement present. The ECO subject is unarmed. Mental illness agitation episodes are easily misinterpreted as aggressive and combative, and the law enforcement officer can turn it into an unfortunate criminal charge. Additionally, the very presence of a law enforcement officer can be frightening and intimidating, and worsen the episodic behavior rather than de escalating it. Alternatively, a family member experienced with the mental illness episodes and whom the ECO subject trusts can be a reassuring and calming influence. The facility has visitation policies in place and the physician is in a position to enforce them and determine if the family member is an appropriate visitor. The second caveat is medical risk. The physician is the appropriate person to determine if there is a medical risk or if the the visitor’s presence interferes with the assessment and stabilization process to determine if a detention order is appropriate. Thank you for your time reading my comments and your careful consideration of the family-oriented improvements to this bill.

HB1242 is important to help calm individuals in a mental health crisis and prevent them from further destabilization while in custody awaiting treatment. If this bill had been in effect already, it could have helped prevent the eventual death of Irvo Otieno by allowing his mother and closest supporter to be with him and calm him when he was taken to a medical facility for emergency treatment during a mental health crisis. The bill is limited to situations in which the individual being treated wants the family member to be present.