Charleston mother Tessa Spencer tells legislators about her son's death during a Senate Medical Affairs subcommittee meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026. (Screenshot of SCETV legislative livestream)
COLUMBIA — Tessa Spencer knew her son, Julian Fite, was struggling with his mental health. He’d attempted suicide in the past, and she could see signs that it might happen again.
When she brought him to the hospital to get help, though, the 20-year-old did not consent to treatment, so doctors sent him home. The Charleston mother begged for help, but the answer remained the same: Unless Fite agreed, doctors could do nothing.
“I was offered prayers and a hug but not the authority to save my son,” Spencer told senators.
This pattern continued for years, with Fite agreeing only to changes in medication or short-term hospital stays before trying again to harm himself, Spencer said.
Fite died by suicide in July 2025, at the age of 24.
A bipartisan bill advanced unanimously last week by a Senate panel would attempt to prevent similar situations by giving parents decision-making power over their adult children’s mental health care, as long as the child remained on their parents’ health insurance plan.
The legislation is on the agenda Thursday for consideration by the full Senate Medical Affairs Committee.
Existing law allows for two types of involuntary psychiatric treatment. Any family member, medical worker or other concerned person can give a sworn statement asking for a person to get mental health help. If a doctor determines the person has a mental illness that could cause them to do imminent harm to themself or others, they can keep the person in a psychiatric hospital for up to two business days.
After that, any treatment requires a court order, which is the other route to involuntary hospitalization. If a judge agrees that a person needs further treatment, they must stay in the psychiatric hospital. If the judge finds they are stable enough to make their own decisions, however, then the person must be allowed to leave if they choose.
“It’s clear to me, and others, that there are, at 19 and 18, some children, particularly those who have a diagnosis, that may not understand the decisions they’re making when they’re refusing treatment,” said Sen. Deon Tedder, a Charleston Democrat and one of the bill’s sponsors.
Fite could say all the right things for a judge to release him after an emergency hospitalization, even if he was still struggling, his mother said. During emergency stays, Fite might get his medication readjusted and become stable, causing a judge to allow him to leave.
That wasn’t enough, Spencer said. Her son needed longer-term help, but he wouldn’t agree to access it. His age likely played a role, she said: Between 18 and 25, young people are trying to get the independence of young adulthood, even though their brains are still developing.
“Families like ours need more than short-term crisis holds,” Spencer said. “We need practical legal tools for parents to help young adults with mental illness through the most critical years of brain development before tragedy becomes irreversible.”
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The bill would give people another option in emergencies, such as in Fite’s case, Tedder said. Getting through the bureaucratic red tape of receiving a court order might take a long time, leaving a young adult in a dangerous situation, he said.
If the young adult got their own health insurance, he added, they would no longer be subject to their parents’ decisions, giving them a way out if they really wanted to take responsibility for themselves, he said. Rather than take away decision-making power, the bill was intended to give parents an extra step they might be able to use to get their child help, he said.
Other senators worried the bill could have the opposite effect in some cases. A parent might deny their child’s attempts to get mental health care if given the ability to make those decisions, said Sen. Tom Corbin, a Greenville County Republican.
Fite seemed to have “two loving parents,” but “that doesn’t happen in every household,” said Corbin, of Travelers Rest.
The bill could also raise constitutional concerns, said Anna Maria Conner, an attorney for Disability Rights South Carolina. Adults have the right to make their own health care decisions, even if they’re not always the same as the decisions their parents might make, she said.
The existing rules about involuntary hospitalization are there for a reason, Conner said. Under constitutional rights to privacy, adults have the authority to make decisions about their own health care, she said.
“Anytime you talk about restricting the rights of people to make their own decisions, it’s cause to be concerned,” Conner said.
Senators expressed similar concerns, but they felt the issue was too important to not advance the bill. Tedder plans to return with some changes to the bill to address some of those concerns, he said, though he didn’t give specifics.
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Courtesy of South Carolina Daily Gazette
