My Son Tried to Kill Himself on Friday Morning

Friday morning very early I took the dog out, and when I came back the door was locked. I knocked on the door and my son came downstairs to open it and he was covered in blood. It was horrific, I grabbed my keys and rushed him to the closest ER. Without going into all the details, let me tell you I feel enormous guilt and remorse for not trying to find him help sooner.

At the ER they determined the wound was close enough to the artery that they needed to transfer him to another facility close by where there was a more experienced trauma unit. I in retrospect should have gone in the ambulance, but I didn't, I drove myself & then was delayed by the hospital protocol for almost an hour before I was reunited with my son. They had stapled the wound and it seemed we were waiting for the psychiatrist or social worker to come and talk with us.

A X-ray tech came into the room and unhooked all of his monitors and blood pressure and other wires on him and started to wheel him out of the room, saying he need to take an x-ray (which didn't make sense as the other hospital had done all that) less than 30 sec later, the x-ray guy came back with the bed and said something to the effect of "I got the wrong patient" lowered the bed and then walked out, leaving all the monitoring devices unconnected.

I really don't know exactly what happened next it was so fast. My son turned to me and said something like "I wonder what this is like" slide to the end of the bed and took off sprinting butt naked down through the ER.

I couldn't grab him, he was too fast and no one seemed to notice, I screamed "grab him" and as he rounded the corner of the ER he encountered some of the medical campus police, who then tackled him and stopped him. Unfortunately an officer sustained an injury when they stopped my son as he was determined to escape and tried to get away even when he was down on the ground.

Now my son is being charged with two counts of assaulting an officer & trying to reach for the officer's gun is an additional charge. They have taken him into custody (the medical university police) and are going to give him to the county jail psych unit when the medical doctors say he is physically recovered enough from his self inflicted wounds to leave the university medical facility.

I am not allowed to see him, talk to him, or the doctors, it is just a nightmare. Can someone help me legally to understand my rights, my son's rights?

I'm so sorry, what a horrible thing to go through. I have kids, and I can't even begin to imagine what your situation must be like. I"m glad he's okay, at least physically. I don't have any legal advice, but I'm sure there's something that can be done, since he was unstable and the ER was clearly negligent. I've been in the ER many times for being suicidal or actual attempts, and over here they always put a security guard or cop in front of your room. Good luck! HOpe your son feels better soon.