Our conversation has been edited and condensed.

Why can’t someone like Ms. Williams, who seemed clearly to have a delusional illness, be involuntarily committed?

Involuntary commitment laws balance the rights of people with mental illness and protection of the public, and the standard for commitment is that the person presents an “immediate danger to self or others.” She didn’t meet the immediacy criteria.

There’s debate over this provision. In New York, we have a law — Kendra’s Law — that allows for broader inclusionary criteria so that, for example, commitment can be based on a person’s history of noncompliance in treatment. A doctor or a family member would have to petition the mental health court in the hospital.

But even if someone had brought her to the right psychiatrist, the question is: What happens after that? In my experience, we would bring people like her to Bellevue, and 30 days later they’d be discharged and back on same heating grate as before.

What if she just did not understand she was mentally disabled?

If you look at her from a “strengths” rather than “deficits” perspective, she was extremely resourceful. She knew exactly where it was safe to stay; she was lucid in interviews; she knew her dilemma regarding shelter — that she felt safer away from people than in a crowded place.