William VanWhy says he was feeling emotionally overwhelmed when he checked himself into the mental health unit at Northwest Medical Center in Arkansas last year. Four days later, he was still in the locked unit but desperate to leave.

“I was not receiving any medical care at all,” VanWhy, 32, said.

Mental health patients in Arkansas can be held against their will for 72 hours if they are deemed a danger to themselves or to others. But to keep them any longer than that, a medical provider must file a court petition and get the consent of a judge.

No petition was filed in VanWhy’s case, and his partner, with the help of a lawyer, ultimately succeeded in getting a court order for his release.

A few hours later, a sheriff’s deputy walked into the hospital with the order in his hand and VanWhy’s husband at his side. In the elevator, they bumped into a nurse from his unit.

“I’m glad he’s getting out,” the nurse said, according to body camera footage obtained by NBC News. “Don’t repeat that.”

VanWhy was released about 20 minutes later. “Oh my gosh. You saved my life,” he told the deputy, the bodycam footage shows.

The man who led the unit at the time, Dr. Brian Hyatt, was one of the most prominent psychiatrists in Arkansas and the chairman of the board that disciplines physicians. But he’s now under investigation by state and federal authorities who are probing allegations ranging from Medicaid fraud to false imprisonment.

VanWhy’s release marked the second time in two months...

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