Q: Legal protection from mentally ill family member that makes false accusations/charges
We have a mentally ill family member who in the past has made false accusations to the authorities against us. She is currently confined to a NY State mental hospital, but she was able to phone in the false accusation in the past and the authorities are obliged to respond which is traumatic and personally damaging - even though the charges were determined to be false they go into a sealed record that remains until our children are 18 yrs old. Is there any legal means to establishing some form of protection against this person and their accusations? She has a history of false accusations as well as physical threats.
A: Hello in Gloversville. You are in a tough spot. You did not mention if this hospital is a government-run hospital or a private hospital. Technically you can sue the patient perhaps for Defamation and Harassment, but what would you gain? Even the authorities may have a hard time stopping this behavior. My thinking is, that you can deal with the hospital, informally; by letter; or even with legal action. I am located in Schenectady County.
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