Could anyone please tell me what the United State's laws say about attempted suicide?

Particularly in Kansas, if it is state specific.

I know there is a 72 hour min. observation thing... but anything else?

Please. I need to know... I need to know when she can get out... regardless of what the doctors say...

It varies by state, like most of the laws in a federal republic. But in general, attempted suicide is considered prima facie evidence of mental illness.

After all, part of the legal definition of mental illness is, "poses a threat to the health of self or others." Threats to health of self don't get much bigger than suicide.

Therefore in most cases the person will be put in a psych ward for observation. 72 hours is a pretty common length of stay, but as I say, not all states are alike. She will have to convince a court-appointed public-hospital overworked bureaucratic psychiatrist or other mental health professional that if they let her out she won't try it again. If she's too depressed to play along and lets them figure out that she will try it again, she's toast. Court-ordered long-term psychotherapy -- the government kind with lots of drugs and not much love.

Suicide and attempted suicide are technically illegal -- probably in every state. It's possible that after her release she could be arrested. That could depend on a lot of things, like whether the cops in this jurisdiction are jerks who enjoy frelling with people's heads. Or just the opposite, they might think that putting her in jail would save her life. But if she has a good home to go back to, the people there have gotten their wake-up call and will do a better job of taking care of her this time, and she hasn't previously done something to make the cops dislike her, she will probably be released. Possibly with a social worker following up on her -- at intervals far too long to actually prevent a second attempt.

As for whether you will be allowed to visit her, that's entirely up to the people in the psych ward. If you think a courtroom is a dictatorship, wait till you see a psych ward! You'll have a much better chance if you're a spouse or blood relative. They're more likely to let one of those in, even if it's the one who drove her to suicide in the first place.

I'm not sure how long it will take before she gets out if she does convince them. However, if she fails to convince the psychiatrists that she is sane, she might stay there for years.
It is hard to convince those people. A study was done where mentally sane (psychiatry students, if i remember well) placed themselves into mental institutions to check how long it would take before the doctors would notice that they're sane. It took a few months.
Good luck.

Fraggle and wolf... thank you...

It doesn't make me feel much better, but the truth rarely does, right?
But yeah... thanks for the words.

Fraggle:
You used "frell." You are awesome.

Ell, try to find out what drugs they are giving your friend . Many of these drugs can increase anxiety and encourage suicidal ideation . Some of these drugs can actually cause or escalate the very indicants that the docs then use to substantiate keeping a person in the hospital .

Get a PDR and check the adverse reactions for each drug ( I am quessing that they prescribed several , because that's what they usually do ) .

When the person is able , suggest that they check what the staff is writing in their medical reports . Simply talking about suicide , in general terms , or as it applies to others ( not themselves ) could be written down as " considering suicide " .

Fraggle: You used "frell." You are awesome.Everybody knows what it means, even if they've never heard it before. And it gets through all the filters. It worked for Farscape. :)