DC Psych Hospital Tells Court It's Not a Hotel, Seeks Order Requiring County or Mom to Pick Up Boy
A 10-year-old boy known as L.F. who stabbed his cousin in the eye with a pencil has overstayed his welcome at Children’s National Medical Center.
According to court papers filed by lawyers for the psychiatric hospital, L.F. has been a patient since Sept. 15 and no one is willing to pick him up, the Washington Post reports. Children’s Hospital “is not a hotel in which one can check in and stay so long as one pays,” the papers say. The facility is asking a judge to order the boy’s mother or the county to take custody.
L.F. reportedly said he thought hurting people was funny, shows no remorse for bad behavior, and is unable to control himself when he is angry, scared or sad, according to court papers cited by the newspaper. His violent tendencies stopped during hospitalization, though he has ongoing behavioral issues, his doctors say. His mother is “at a loss” as to how to help, according to hospital reports.
The boy’s care is covered by insurance, but the hospital says he needs to be moved to a more suitable facility, such as therapeutic foster care or a residential treatment center. According to the newspaper, Children’s Hospital has even made “the drastic suggestion” that the court order the boy placed in an ambulance and dropped off at a social services office in Prince George’s County, Md.
The boy’s father told the Post he had been prevented from seeing L.F. when the boy was living with his mother, but that he has been visiting him in the hospital. He can’t take the boy home because he has no legal right to custody.
