I'm really sorry this happened to you.

One of those links I posted a few weeks ago (the one that had Elyn Saks and Fred Frese as panelists) was a Fred Friendly seminar. They gather a variety of experts on a topic and discuss it using hypotheticals as a vehicle for the conversation. One of the hypos on that program included exactly your scenario. A college-aged woman has been brought to the ER by her parents because she's manic and delusional. At some point she gets up and runs from the hospital. What happens? The panelists agree that in most ER's in the U.S. nothing would be done to stop her or to chase her. Refusing treatment and running out of the hospital isn't, in itself, sufficient reason to force treatment.

I remember the first time my son agreed to go to the hospital voluntarily. The mhc arranged for him to be transported to the hospital which is in another city. My son started to get on the bus. Then he noticed the other patient who was going and apparently didn't like his looks. So he told the driver he'd changed his mind and walked off. No one tried to stop him and no one called me to tell me he'd left (and he didn't have a car or cell phone). So... shrug. It's hard for me to imagine what happened to you happening here. Possibly it has. But it's really hard for me to imagine. Here, unless he'll admit to being an imminent danger to himself or others - and, of course, he's smart enough not to do that! - they'll let him leave, even if they have a pretty good idea he's suicidal.

Obvious signs of mental illness!