In Maryland, a specific list of licensed mental health professionals can authorize an involuntary psychiatric hold by filing what’s called an emergency petition. Notably, Maryland’s hold is not actually 72 hours. The state caps emergency evaluation at 30 hours from the time the person arrives at the facility, making it shorter than the 72-hour holds common in many other states.
Who Can File an Emergency Petition
Under Maryland’s Health-General Article ยง10-622, the following professionals can initiate an emergency petition after personally examining someone they believe is in psychiatric crisis:
- Physicians (any licensed MD or DO)
- Psychologists
- Clinical social workers
- Licensed clinical professional counselors
- Clinical nurse specialists in psychiatric and mental health nursing
- Psychiatric nurse practitioners
- Licensed clinical marriage and family therapists
- Health officers or their designees
Once one of these professionals signs the petition, they hand it to a peace officer, who then transports the individual to a designated emergency facility for evaluation. The professional must have personally examined the person beforehand. A phone call or secondhand report is not sufficient.
Can Family Members or Others Request a Hold?
If you’re a family member, friend, or other concerned person who is not a licensed clinician, you cannot file an emergency petition directly. However, you can petition through the Maryland District Court. A judge reviews the request and, if the evidence supports it, issues an order directing law enforcement to take the person for evaluation. This court-based route exists specifically so that everyday people have a path to get help for someone in crisis, even without a clinician’s direct involvement.
What Qualifies Someone for an Involuntary Hold
Maryland law requires that all of the following conditions be met before someone can be involuntarily admitted:
- The person has a mental disorder.
- They need inpatient care or treatment.
- They present a danger to their own life or safety, or to others.
- They are unable or unwilling to be admitted voluntarily.
- No less restrictive form of intervention is available that would be consistent with their welfare and safety.
In practical terms, the kinds of situations that meet these criteria include suicidal thinking or behavior, homicidal thinking or behavior, acute psychotic symptoms, sudden changes in mental status, and violence. The petitioner needs to believe the person is in active psychiatric crisis, not simply behaving unusually or making poor decisions.
What Happens After the Petition Is Filed
Once a peace officer has the signed petition, they transport the individual to a designated emergency facility. Maryland maintains a list of approved facilities that can include hospital emergency departments, comprehensive crisis response centers, crisis stabilization centers, and certain outpatient mental health clinics. These facilities must be staffed around the clock to handle emergency petitions and must have written procedures in place for involuntary admissions.
The facility is required to accept the individual upon receiving a properly executed petition. From there, a physician must examine the person within 6 hours of their arrival. This examination determines whether the person actually meets the legal criteria for involuntary admission. If the examining physician does not certify the person for admission, they must be released immediately.
The 30-Hour Limit, Not 72
This is where Maryland differs from many other states. The person cannot be kept at the emergency facility for more than 30 hours from the time they arrive. During that window, the examining physician either certifies the individual for transfer to an inpatient psychiatric facility or releases them. There is no automatic 72-hour hold in Maryland’s emergency evaluation system.
If the physician does certify the person, they are placed in an appropriate inpatient facility for further treatment. At that point, the process shifts from emergency evaluation to involuntary admission, which has its own set of legal protections, timelines, and hearing requirements. The individual has the right to contest the admission through an administrative hearing.
The Role of Police Officers
Peace officers in Maryland serve as the transport mechanism, not the decision-makers. They cannot independently decide to place someone on a psychiatric hold the way officers can in some other states. Their role is to receive the petition from the clinician (or the court order from a judge), take custody of the individual, and bring them to the emergency facility. If the person is violent, officers may be asked to remain at the facility until a supervisor responds to the physician’s request and the person has been examined.
This system places the clinical judgment squarely with licensed professionals and the legal authority with the courts, while using law enforcement as the link between the two.