Hacker News Reader

There is a huge area between being "surrogate parents" and being outright inhumane.

> For more than a day no one had any idea where I was — not even my parents.

The rest is equally horrifying, but this boggles my mind on top of all that. Is it too much to ask to at least inform her parents? What could be a sane justification for not doing so?

View on HN

I believe it's illegal for the school to share that information with parents, provided the student is an adult and hasn't given consent.

But it's perfectly legal for someone to decide that an adult is still suicidal when they say they are not, having them taken away and locked up without allowing them a phonecall? If that's mental healthcare in the US, I wonder what abduction is like.

Please understand I'm not justifying or defending, only explaining.

I know. Still, there is a difference between them not having consent because they weren't given consent, or because they haven't even asked for it. Maybe not legally, but I morally for sure. (I simply assume that the article isn't leaving out that they asked her, and that she said no.)

Reply on news.ycombinator.com