Very disconcerting but not surprising, especially in light of recent happenings in DC where by all apparent reason the individual responsible didn't just slip through the crack in our metal health care system, but may have been shoved out the gaps.
I know when I was hospitalized in Kansas in 2010, within 24 hrs they were making arrangements to "ship" me back to PA even though I told them I had no where to live once back. A 52 hr bus ride, with 4 bags of luggage, 16 stitches in my arm, double ear infection and running a 102 degree fever. Off to the bus station I went after the 72 hour hold was up. I also had a GI infection and a mouth full of cold sores/fever blisters along with an unstable sugar count. Their idea of "food" was 2 apples and a few packets of crackers as I had no money for food. I had no health insurance and the hospital made no attempt to rectify that, ie having a social worker visit and fill out paperwork for Medicaid. By the time I got back to PA I was so sick physically, that it took 6 months before I could return to work.
Nevada has apparently come up with a new way of controlling the cost of caring for the institutionalized mentally ill: put them on buses and send them to other states.
That is the basis for a lawsuit that has been filed by the city of San Francisco against the state of Nevada, which claims that it has cost the city over $500,000 to house and care for homeless mental patients who had previously been living at Nevada’s state-run Rawson-Neal Psychiatric Hospital in Las Vegas. San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera said in a statement:
>>> Homeless, psychiatric patients are especially vulnerable to the kind of practices Nevada engaged in, and the lawsuit I’ve filed today is about more than just compensation. It’s about accountability.<<< Reuters reports that the suit has been filed as a class action, but has not yet been certified by the court. The lawsuit stems from a Sacramento Bee report published last April, which found that starting in 2008 Rawson-Neal had sent more than 1,500 patients to cities around the country, sending at least one to every state. The paper discovered this information after reviewing bus receipts provided by the Nevada mental health division. According to The Bee: >>>In recent years, as Nevada has slashed funding for mental health services, the number of mentally ill patients being bused out of southern Nevada has steadily risen, growing 66 percent from 2009 to 2012. During that same period, the hospital has dispersed those patients to an ever-increasing number of states.
By last year, Rawson-Neal bused out patients at a pace of well over one per day, shipping nearly 400 patients to a total of 176 cities and 45 states across the nation.<<< For their part, Nevada mental health officials admit to making mistakes in Brown’s case, but have overall defended the practice of busing patients out-of-state. Nevada’s state health officer, Dr. Tracey Green, said that Las Vegas is an “international destination” and that patients who become ill while visiting have a right to return home. Nevada’s Health and Human Services Director Michael Willden told state legislators that there was “no pattern of misconduct.”
Nevada Being Sued Over Practice Of 'Dumping' Mentally Ill Patients In Cities Where They Know No One -
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