Everyone passes the buck, covers their ass. Their goal was accomplished: he did not shoot up the campus. Of course, negative externalities were dumped on the broader public. The richest country on earth can afford to pay for the mentally ill to have the same consistent doctors and psychs.

The details of how his participation as an out-patient ended haven't been clearly reported. I don't think it's been revealed whether or not he dropped out of care because of money.

refusing to keep appointments with your shrink/Mental Health cannot be prevented.

Even if he lived in a mandatory committment state, he had not shown enough symptoms to be locked up and evaluated.
The ONLY thing a Mental Health doc/therapist can do is to document that a patient is non-compliant with appointments.
Suppose the doc called police and said " I think I have a client who *may* be a risk to self or others".
The police are supposed to do what, exactly?
There are no laws that apply to help the police do anything.

Oh well.

I could be wrong, but I think they are still required to go to the police. Even if he dropped out they still have knowledge he is a danger to others. And they are still mandated reporters, I think. If they were outside the University they would definitely be liable.

would have done. Or could have done.

"Pre-crime" unit? The psychiatrist had a hunch and called in others to evaluate, but the person they were evaluating flew the coop.

It's horribly unfortunate, but I am not so sure the police would have been helpful.

Most mandated reports concern sexual abuse of children, and, in some states, exploitation/abuse of elderly..ie: those unable to report for themselves.

To inform authorities if she felt he was a threat?

Simply thinking someone might potentially be a threat is not enough reason for the police to take action.

I'm in the mental health field. It happens all the time for people who pose a threat to themselves or others.

I wasn't sure if it was threat to others as well.

Getting someone locked in a mental hospital requires more than just a worry, you have to be able to show a very serious threat. It is unlikely this person had enough evidence of a credible threat to justify locking him up.

but the doctor can have them admitted to a mental institution for assessment which usually lasts 24 hours, if they suspect serious SI (suicidal ideation) or HI (homicidal ideation). It's a judgement call for the doc and is usually done using some type of "risk assessment" test they will give the person.

And I believe, even then the Dr is required to inform the target of the threat and not the police.

but not local police? I am really confused. I got to think U of Colorado might be getting some lawsuits thrown their way.

they could do nothing at all until/unless he commits a criminal act. The school knows this. Things have changed since Raygun defunded state mental health services.

to go outside the institution she would have needed a specific threat, not "James might be dangerous sometime somewhere." It would have to be "James stated that he is going to shoot Jane the next time he sees her in Starbucks." Not sure what the law would be if she knew about the arsenal. Probably the same.

I can tell you that the University simply has to point to their documented efforts to comply with any appicable laws.
I emphasixe "documented" which includes documenting that the client had left treatment.

if a person was suspected of being a danger to themselves or others by a close family member or other recognized source (like a psychiatrist) they could be reported to police who could take them into custody for an evaluation, usually at a "state hospital". If the hospital determined the person was a danger to themselves or others, they could involuntarily hold the person until the danger was gone, usually after some sort of drug or treatment stabilization. Then Raygun cut federal funding to states to help pay for mental health services and diverted that money to his losing war on drugs. In the immediate years following the defunding, states began closing the "state hospitals", moving the convicted criminally insane to medical wards at prisons, leaving no place for civil commitments or psych evaluations. Now, unless one has enough money to self pay, there is no mechanism for intervention until a person commits a criminal act. If the college would have contacted the police, absolutely nothing would have happened unless he had done something criminal. I would very much like to see statistical analysis of the effects of defunding state mental health services on criminal acts by people later determined to be mentally ill. We know that the defunding put millions of mental patients on the streets, homeless..

but no one listens to the Carters

Fla. and Ala. and some other states do have Crisis Eval. centers, paid for by State MH funds, and backed by state law that people can be kept for 72 hours for psych eval.
In Ala. the police or the hospitals call the MH staff to come do the eval.
Most of the time in my experience, the client is pretty willing to agree to a 72 hour eval.
If not willing, a judge has to sign a committment order..I have had to wake a few judges up at 2 am to get an order signed so the local police could take the client to the Crisis Center after my eval. showed there was good reason to hold them.


In Fla. the 72 hour hold covers substance abuse and well as psychiatric emergencies, via the Baker Act.
and in Fla. a psychiatrist has to order the hold, and a judge rules on it during the earliest court session.

as a "former" student, they would drop the whole thing..and apparently they did

from the patient that caused her to believe that he was dangerous. Her legal obligation as a
mental health professional was to first contact the appropriate law enforcement authorities and
secondly, the officials at her University. Law enforcement should have been the primary driver of the potential threat investigation The fact that the University dropped the inquiry because the student had withdrawn was unwise, careless and possibly illegal, especially from the psychiatrist's position.