“I want to go home.” My voice sounded foreign to my ringing ears. “I just want to go home.” I exclaimed a second time. This time it was a protest, a plea, a prayer.
My name is Ebonie Megibow.
I am a mother, a wife, a researcher, a scholar, a small business owner, and a maternal health advocate but when I step into the hospital, I am known only by my ICD 10 diagnosis code: F31.63: Bipolar disorder, current episode, mixed, severe without psychotic features.
I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2016. I often feared that my mental health was a carefully constructed house of cards held up by my access to adequate health insurance.
On December 18, 2025, I lost my job and my private health insurance. On April 15, 2026 I voluntarily admitted myself to a psychiatric hospital. I returned home on Monday April 20, after being held for five days under a 5150 involuntary psychiatric detention, followed by a 5250.
My first evening was uneventful. I arrived at the unit around 5 p.m. and I spent the entire evening reading a novel.
On April 16 I spoke with the physician, social worker, and nurse assigned to my care team and expressed that I wanted to be discharged from the facility. The hospital social worker connected me with the Butte County Behavioral Health team to arrange for transport back to my home in Forest Ranch. Shortly after their conversation I was placed on a 5150 involuntary psychiatric hold. I was supposed to be discharged at 10:30 a.m. Sunday morning. On Sunday evening, I was placed on a 5250, which allowed for additional detention for up to 14 days.
The environment was noisy, messy and disruptive. I averaged about five hours of restful sleep a night. I witnessed patients soiling themselves and not being cleaned up for 20 minutes. We were checked on every 15 minutes, including during the middle of the night, so that our behavior, location on the unit, and activities could be documented. I was admitted on Wednesday. I didn’t have the opportunity to go outside until Friday where we were limited to a 10-minute break.
Patients were denied essential medical care. A male patient requested compression socks to minimize his risk of blood clots. By the time of his discharge, five days after being admitted, his request had not been fulfilled. More alarmingly, he was only discharged after an administrative hearing with a judge.
My experience is not unusual for psychiatric patients in California. There are 21 for-profit and investor-owned psychiatric hospitals in California. The average length of stay at an acute care psychiatric hospital is seven days, even though the 5150 hold only permits a three-day involuntary admission. A longer length of stay translates to more billable services through insurance. More than one-quarter of inpatient psychiatric patients with mental health disorders in California hospitals are Medi-Cal recipients. Over half of inpatient psychiatric patients with substance use disorders are Medi-Cal recipients.
The number of inpatient psychiatric hospitalizations for patients with mental health disorders on Medi-Cal is trending upwards and it will likely continue to rise due to critical policy changes. In January 2026, the Lanterman-Petris-Short (LPS) Act was updated for the first time in nearly 60 years to expand the definition of “gravely disabled” to include people with severe substance use disorder and broaden the criteria for involuntary detention.
For patients like me, the 5150 and 5250 are legal statutes that have far-reaching implications. My husband and I cannot have any defensive weapons in our household, even if they are securely stored. I cannot obtain a firearm or other weapons for the next five years. Future employers may require disclosure of my 5150 and 5250 holds which impacts on the types of positions that I can qualify for, industries that I am able to work in, and even limits my opportunities for obtaining an international visa when traveling abroad.
Your tax dollars are being used to detain vulnerable individuals. Like me.
I lost five days with my family during my inpatient hospitalization.
We are being harmed. Please don’t look away.
Ebonie Megibow is a Chico resident who is passionate about breaking the stigma surrounding severe mental illness through research and advocacy. If you or someone you know is struggling, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline can be reached by calling or texting 988. Her website is sacredpathbirths.com and her business email is ebonie@sacredpathbirths.com. Your voice is needed here. You are not alone.