In Re Detention of JR

Three patients at Western State ospital, J.R., W.B., and G.R., challenge their commitents to an additional 180 days of confinement. Each laims the petition for commitment was defective because he psychiatrist signing it was not an "examining” psychitrist, as that term is used in RCW 71.05.320. We conclude that a treating doctor who has made frequent, ongoing, and recent observations of the patient can qualify as an "examining” psychiatrist. We further conclude that a trial court, upon determining that a petitioning psychiatrist does not qualify as an "examining” psychiatrist, has the…