That's debatable, and if their inpatient is full, you can be held against your will in a hospital bed (one time for days!) before being driven by ambulance to their Joplin overflow facility that is old and dirty (trash and used bandaids and stuff on the floor when I visited a few years ago). Your involuntary hold at Mercy prior to being bussed to Joplin does not count, and it starts once you reach the overflow facility.

That same person who was held for days not getting treatment at Mercy and confined to a bed until being sent to Joplin could not get out of that shithole. The psych provider residing over this individual would not discharge him even though he had been there for about 5 days at this point and was not suicidal. I had to go out there personally and raise hell to advocate for them to discharge this person.

This individual said there were other people at the facility in the same boat, including someone who checked themselves in voluntarily when they were having some psychosis. Once their psychotic episode had passed, the facility would not allow them to leave. Another client of mine recently told me of a similar experience they had going to Mercy, being held without treatment until shipped to Joplin, where they could not leave for an unreasonable amount of time.

Mercy should be a last resort in my opinion. I also highly recommend receiving medical care thru Cox over Mercy. As a caseworker, I've seen problems with Cox, but I have seen way more problems with Mercy. Everyone I know who has worked at Mercy has told me to always go to Cox and stay away from Mercy. That's pretty damning when their employees tell you to go to their biggest competitor...