chester, unfortunately, it's like that idiom, "you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink."

I have watched my roommate's family and friends exhaust themselves try to get her to inpatient treatment. Her best friend of 40 years literally showed up unannounced at her door with two county social workers and gave my roommate 10 minutes to pack a bag or she would be forcefully removed by the two county social workers. Of course, they didn't take her to inpatient treatment (she wasn't homicidal or suicidal). Just to a week long temporary stay at the local mental health unit in the hospital. Since I've been renting her guest bedroom for six months now, she's been hospitalized twice.

Sometimes, my roommate's ex-husband or mother will show up at her door on the weekend and ask her to go with them to the hospital. She'll refuse to leave and then they just leave. Her sister lives out of state, and won't file a petition with the county here, to get my roommate examined for inpatient treatment. During her second hospitalization, her friend of 40 years told me they've been enabling my roommate like this for the past five years.

It sounds like you really care about your friend and have sacrificed time and money to fly to where your friend lives to drag him to the medical doctor without any results.

Is anyone in your friend's family, his POA (power of attorney)? Does his psychiatrist know if your friend's refusal to seek medical treatment?

Since you live out of state, I would just let it go. There's nothing you can do. Like my roommate's sister who is her power of attorney and who lives in another state, there's nothing she can do (since she won't file a petition against her own sister). I don't know what else you could do. If your friend doesn't want to go to the doctor, there's nothing you can do to force him.