Two laws collided last week when Alicia Waddell Bean, the former mayor of Spencer who held police at bay with a gun in 2009, attempted suicide at Rowan Regional Medical Center.
The law governing the privacy of mental health patients trumped the right of police to investigate the incident, officials said.
According to the UNC School of Government, the hospital was not required to notify police when Bean hung herself Sept. 19 or 20 in the LifeWorks Behavioral Health Center, which is part of the hospital.
