Hospital settles lawsuit for wrongful incarceration…
Settling out of court for an undisclosed sum, the municipality of Wilburg, California released Lamprecht Melville, age 51, from Summit Point Psychiatric facility yesterday where he had been held since December 17, 2019.
Placed initially on a “5150” (mandating a 72-hour psychiatric assessment) after insisting to his concerned family that they should immediately stock up on toilet paper, put an end to the practice of shaking hands and only visit their beloved elderly grandparents from behind plexiglass, Melville saw this initial assessment extend indefinitely when he spoke to multiple hospital staff members about a dystopian future wherein people maintained an enforced distance of six feet and governments around the world promoted the widespread usage of glory holes.
“I thought these were the nonsensical ramblings of a delusional, paranoid schizophrenic,” recalls Dr. Sadia Anat, who first assessed Melville upon arrival to the esteemed Summit Point facility.
“Taken in conjunction with the family interview process where I learned that Melville had recently begun washing his hands as many as ten times per day and had adopted the unusual practice of spraying disinfectant on groceries prior to opening, I thought the corroborating evidence supported a psychiatric intake and assessment.”
As to why Melville languished at the facility for months after it became clear that his were not, in fact, the rantings of a “tin foil hat wearing lunatic,” but rather a prescient look into our collective future, Brion Slawomira, hospital administrator and spokesperson for Summit Point cited governmental austerity measures and a medical system that, due to the strain that COVID-19 had placed on state health care, under siege.
