Experts are warning they've seen a growing trend of Louisiana coroners involuntarily committing people to hospitals for up to 15 days, saying it likely poses violations of constitutional rights.

Melanie Bray, an attorney with Disability Rights Louisiana, said the organization has received complaints about “children as young as 6 being placed into involuntary inpatient mental health care units through an emergency certificate.”

“In some instances, the parents aren’t notified until after the child is already in an inpatient facility, which is horrifying for a number of reasons,” she said.

Last month, the Louisiana Advisory Committee for the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights — a bipartisan, independent federal commission — held the first of two planned public hearings on the use of Coroner E

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