Psychiatric hospital accused of patient dumping

[Paul E Ester]

Source: SFGate

Nevada's primary state psychiatric hospital has transported more than 1,500 mentally ill patients to cities across the nation by Greyhound bus over the last five years, according to a published story.

As Nevada has slashed funding for mental health services, the number of such patients being bused out of Rawson-Neal Psychiatric Hospital in Las Vegas climbed 66 percent from 2009 to 2012, The Sacramento Bee reported Sunday (http://bit.ly/15cz8Bn ).

Last year, Rawson-Neal bused out patients at a pace of over one per day, shipping nearly 400 patients to a total of 176 cities and 45 states across the country, according to a Bee review of bus receipts kept by Nevada's mental health division.

The issue has been under scrutiny since February when one Rawson-Neal patient turned up suicidal and confused at a homeless complex in Sacramento, where he knew no one and had never been before.


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Psychiatric-hospital-accused-of-patient-dumping-4434096.php

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[Mnemosyne]

1. Still following rayguns model I see. Despicable. nt

[Control-Z]

2. This is nothing new.

The number (of patients discharged) may be higher but if you look at caps and payables you will find that most hospitalizations end when the money flow slows. Funny, that.

[DallasNE]

3. This Is Nothing Short Of Inhumane

You just can't put patients like this on a bus unescorted to their destination. The story only says that they contacted someone at the destination, not that that person agreed to receive that person. Plus, many of these patients would need to do at least one transfer on the way to their destination so where they capable of making that transition? I could see a lethargic patient being asleep when it was time to change busses.

[undergroundpanther]

4. The shit done in psych hospitals

even today would make your blood boil.

I was to be out of a psych trauma unit,the day I was to leave I had my very first true panic attack,went to the er and all.I didn't know what was happening to me.I was discharged back to the psych ward 24 hours later and was frantically trying to find a way home,than my social worker had me call my sister.She picked me up between her frantic runs around.I got home and was so suicidal I cried for three hours,considered ways to kill myself too. I didn't have enough pills to do it,I was having flashbacks all sorts of problems,.MA thought I had been there too long and of course the hospital complied,because no non-profit hospital is going to help someone in a crisis unless it's a senators kid or a rich person or someone with good insurance' like I had before I was dumb enough to get married,if you are a fortunate patient they'll keep you there until they use up your policy..,but once the money's gone you are out,no matter what your psychological state is.

What gets lost is how fucking barbaric this system STILL is.

[Egalitarian Thug]

5. I'm glad to hear that somebody has noticed this. They've been doing this for many years. n/t