Bets - First of all I'm very sorry about your brother and I hope he has a full and speedy recovery and stays clean. I too have told my mother that as long as my sister is in the house I will not be staying there.
Of course any trips back to VA will earn you a dram (or 2, or 3...) of Scotch - I think you know how to get ahold of me.
You are spot on regarding the laws of putting people in a mental facility. We are completely exasperated with the system her and have voiced some of the same concerns as the family did in the case you mentioned. We have had no success other than getting her put in to a facility for 72 hours, long enough for her to sober up and then they simply release her because she will not stay in for treatment. She is now out again and immediately back on the bottle. We are proceeding with a bit of more tougher approach this time via the Marchman Act which will put her in for 5 days with evaluation and then a court hearing to get her committed for longer. I'm not hopeful of the outcome but at least it gets her out of my Mom's house for another 5 days.
The whole thing is taking such a toll on my Mother.
