Florida VA hospitals don’t have to report its use of the Baker Act on patients

“I’m trying not to be cynical.”

Nearly two years after 36-year-old former US Marine Jordan Hunkin died by suicide, the shock is gone, but the hurt will always remain for his family.

“The grief will always be a part of you, it just won't be as heavy,” said his mom Beverly, who has come to accept the constant state of grief that comes with losing a child.

But learning to forgive the VA hospital that failed Jordan months before his death has been far more challenging.

“He didn't go there to be Baker Acted. He went there to get help,” said his mom. 

Now, 8 months after the VA’s Office Inspector General (OIG)released a scathing report that found Malcolm Randall VA hospital in Gainesville improperly baker acted Jordan, violating his rights and possibly the rights of other veterans who were also baker acted after voluntarily seeking treatment, the hospital has updated its Baker Act policies and protocols.  

In 2023, Jordan Hunkin, a former US Marine who suffered from PTSD and depression, showed up at the hospital to enter what he thought was a voluntary mental health treatment program, his friends and family told us back in December.

But instead, Jordan ended up involuntarily committed for days under Florida’s Baker Act law.

The state law allows designated professionals to involuntarily hold if that person is deemed to be a threat to themselves or others.

At the time Jordan sought help at the hospital, he was neither suicidal nor a threat, but he was Baker Acted anyway. The OIG’s report revealed that Jordan even questioned why he was committed to the staff at the hospital.

“This place is not what I expected,” he reportedly said to staff.

“I don’t understand why I am here or Baker Acted,” he said.

Three days later, Jordan was released and never sought treatment from the VA again. He died by suicide six months later.

In previous stories, friends and family told Investigative Reporter Katie LaGrone that after his Baker Act, Jordan lost total trust in the VA, and his mental health spiraled downhill fast.

Following the OIG’s investigation and recommendations for the hospital to adopt updated procedures for implementing, monitoring, and tracking its use of the Baker Act, we obtained copies of those policies through a public records request.

The procedures include mandatory annual Baker Act training requirements for staff within the North Florida and South Georgia VA Medical System. The policies also laid out when a patient can be Baker Acted while distinguishing between patients who get involuntarily committed and those who show up voluntarily, like Jordan.

“I’m trying not to be cynical,” said Beverly Hunkin regarding the updated policies. “I hope they do really change their policies and put them into practice. You can change them, but are you going to put them into practice."

VA exempt from reporting usage of Baker Act: “Why? What are they hiding?”

But what we’ve also learned through the records we obtained is when it comes to reporting how often VA hospitals use the Baker Act on patients in Florida, the VA doesn’t have to report or share that information with Florida’s Health Department or Florida’s Baker Act Reporting Center whose sole mission is to analyze who gets Baker Acted in Florida and why.

“Why don't they have to report it? They're still dealing with human beings! What are they hiding? That makes me think, ‘What are they hiding,’ questioned Beverly Hunkin.

According to the Baker Act Reporting Center’s latest annual report, only three of Florida’s eight major VA hospitalsreported the number of times a Baker Act was used on a patient last fiscal year. 

Bay Pines VA in St. Pete reported the most Baker Acts with 255 patients who were held involuntarily under the state law.

A spokesperson from the BayPines VA told us it tracks Baker Acts “to better assist and understand the need of the communities we serve.”

“We can improve things if we find out what the data is and what they’re doing wrong,” said US Congressman Gus Bilirakis, a Republican from Brooksville who represents Florida’s 12^th District on the West Coast.

“There should be transparency.”

Bilirakis is a strong advocate for veterans and believes the VA’s lack of reporting to the state on its use of the Baker Act fosters a black hole of information, especially given how vulnerable veterans are to suffering from mental health issues.

“There should be transparency; that's how we make things better,” said Congressman Bilirakis.

For now, Beverly Hunkin is hopeful but not convinced what happened to her son won’t happen to another veteran who goes to the VA for help but ends up paying the ultimate price.

“He was already at a breaking point, and they just broke the straw, they just broke the straw,” she said.