Danger to Self, Danger to Others, and Basic Needs: The Three Harm Theories Behind New York Emergency Admissions

Stephan M. Carlson, MD, MBA, FAPA · Emergency Psychiatry and Civil Commitment

"Likelihood of serious harm" is not one finding. It is three separate evidentiary roads—danger to self, danger to others, and inability to meet basic survival needs—and a record that proves one says almost nothing about the other two. Reports that blur the three are the easiest to take apart. What "likelihood of serious harm" actually requires New York does not authorize emergency psychiatric admission on a diagnosis or on generalized concern. Under Mental Hygiene Law §9.39, a person may be retained for immediate observation, care, and treatment only when a mental illness is likely to result in serious harm. The statute defines "likelihood of serious harm" through three enumerated routes: su

Most relevant service: Risk & Civil Commitment Assessment