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Comment by 300bps | Hacker News Reader

In this case, chronic stress which had such adverse effects it caused a forced medical leave.

You seem to know a lot about this - can you tell me what "forced medical leave" is? It seems to imply that a doctor ordered her to stop working against her will and that she was forced to obey. In what states is that legal? I've googled every iteration of "forced medical leave" I can think of and the only thing I can find is that it is illegal for employers to force you to take medical leave in lieu of complying with reasonable accommodations.

I don't see anything about a doctor being able to order "forced medical leave" so appreciate any help you can provide in helping me understand what that means.

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Depending on your medical circumstances, if a physician believes there's a threat to your health and safety, they can have you sent for in-patient treatment against your will. I know people this has happened to.

If your health deteriorates to the point where a physician has graduated from gentle advice to very strong recommendations, if things get any worse they may be forced to take that intervention. There are specific symptoms and conditions that will set off red flags and alarm bells where they will begin asking you specific screening questions that may lead to taking drastic action.

Mental health problems can be serious stuff when they get out of hand! Your body will do bizarre stuff it wouldn't normally do even if you're a perfectly healthy individual. In my case it was bad enough things had progressed to very strongly worded recommendations, and given the circumstances I was totally okay with taking the advice even though it would negatively impact the project (and my career).

they can have you sent for in-patient treatment

Sure, everyone knows that. But "forced medical leave" from work seems to be something completely different. I can't seem to find any information whatsoever about it.

Perhaps the author could have worded that differently as “involuntary medical leave”?

Employers can require a return-to-work note from the doctor. If that doctor involuntary committed her and suggested she quit, there is a good chance the doctor may hold on to that note for a bit as well.

If something like this is what happened, I would suspect it would raise HR flags to the point of requiring the note to return to work.

https://www.google.com/search?q=return+to+work+release

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