She'd been living on her own before and went back to her normal life, right after she was released.
So how could this happen and does it have anything to do with insurance?
"Why do you think you're here?" Eyewitness News Investigative Reporter Sarah Wallace asked."I don't know I have no idea why!" Viki Gordon said, "I don't know, I don't know nothing. I don't know why I come here. I don't know why they keep me here."
Eyewitness News first met 74-year-old Viki Gordon, a Greek immigrant, in the psychiatric unit of Bergen Regional Medical Center, a lockdown facility.
She'd been involuntarily committed 10 days before and ordered to stay for 21 days.
"You want to go home," Wallace said.
"Yes," Gordon answered.
"And they won't let you?" Wallace asked.
"No," Gordon said.
Eyewitness News had been brought to the hospital by Gordon's next door neighbor, David D'Amico, who couldn't understand why he wasn't able to get his close friend released.
She has hand tremors from Parkinson's disease, but no history of mental problems.
Even the hospital acknowledged that.
"It was simply that she was a danger to herself, but she was not deemed suicidal or incompetent. So again, how was she a danger to herself and she's been taking care of herself and me at times over the last year," D'Amico said.
For years Gordon has lived in this immaculate, upscale apartment in West New York.
Her husband died seven years ago, and she's been on her own, with D'Amico recently helping with her finances.
He says he tried to reason with the hospital.
"We had a plan. We told them she could have live at home care, whatever they prescribed but they insisted on keeping her there for the 21 days," D'Amico said.
"When they said you couldn't take her," Wallace said.
"It was frustrating. I feel to me, she was kidnapped. Detained against her will, thrown in here where she has nobody," D'Amico said.
Gordon says her surreal descent into hell began when she came to an auto body shop in Fairview to fill out paperwork a few days after a minor car accident.
She says she became upset because she doesn't understand English.
The police report by Fairview Police says they responded to a call of a person feeling depressed, that Gordon was crying and upset.
The question is why she needed to stay in a lockdown facility for 21 days?
Psychologist Lynn Schiller couldn't talk about Gordon's specific case, just general procedures.
"There's no criteria that someone has to be held for 21 days per se. It's all based on what the psychiatrist and the treatment team deems is appropriate for the individual," Schiller said.
Interestingly, Gordon was released on the 21st day.
She was still traumatized by the experience.
"Did you feel as though you were in a bad dream?" Wallace asked.
"I feel in the worst place in the world," Gordon said.
"That is the magic number, she was staying for 21 days, and I couldn't get her out before that. It's 21 days, as much as her Medicare would pay," D'Amico said.
Gordon's medical records show a recommendation she follow up with her own doctor, but no anti-psychotic medication.
Eyewitness News decided to see how she was doing, nearly two months after her release, and she certainly seemed perfectly competent shopping with D'Amico.
She'd gotten her bill; the part insurance didn't cover for her hospitalization, totaling nearly $20,000.
"If it could happen to Viki, it could happen to a lot of people. It could happen to my grandma, it could happen to my mother down the road. It could happen to anyone's loved ones. And once they're in the system, they're stuck," D'Amico said.
The problem is that D'Amico was in Mexico for a couple of days and unreachable when his neighbor was taken to the hospital.
If you know an elderly person, make sure they can always reach someone.
Due to patient confidentiality, the hospital could not comment.
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(Copyright ©2011 WABC-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Investigations »hospital, investigations, sarah wallace
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