I was already late in finishing up my work today. It was one of the busiest days I’ve had in eight years, with a total of six psychiatric patients on involuntary holds at three hospitals around the Portland area. The only bright spot was getting to see my wife Ruth (the nurse) at work on [...]
Well, today I reached a new level of frustration in my job as a civil commitment investigator. I evaluate mentally ill people who are being held in the hospital against their will because some physician there thought they were dangerous enough to be placed on an involuntary hold. In Oregon, the official term is Notification [...]
This morning my boss walked in and said, as benignly as he could, “Do you guys have some time to talk about the budget?” He was referring to the proposed 2009-2011 Oregon budget published earlier this week by Governor Kulongoski. I’d been waiting for him to walk in and say that ever since [...]
