When hospitals close their psychiatric units...

Yet another local hospital in my county is planning on closing their psychiatric unit. It seems that fewer and fewer hospitals want to (or say they can afford to) take care of patients in need of a safe, secure environment where their medications for a diagnosed mental illness can be adjusted and other treatments can be provided.

A guest opinion article, Must not only fix broken bones, but broken brains, too, was published in The Bucks County Courier Times on December 29, 2007. Many legitimate reasons were sited as to why closing this hospital would not be a wise decision.

As mentioned, "With appropriate effective medication and services most people who live with serious mental illnesses can significantly reduce the impact of their illness and find a satisfying measure of achievement and independence." For someone who lacks insight and does not remain with prescribed treatment, if this hospital closes, there will not be a nearby facility where they can receive the care they may need on either a voluntary or involuntary inpatient status.

Our state's very restrictive Mental Health Procedures Act, which only allows for treatment when someone is a "clear a present danger to self or others," does not provide the treatments someone may need to help keep them out of a dangerous situation. If we had an assisted outpatient treatment (AOT) law such as SB 226, clients in need of treatment who lack insight for a need for treatment could at least be assured timely treatment in the community.

But, if this hospital closes its psychiatric unit in February 2008, as they state they most likely will do, the support system for those who desperately need help for an untreated mental illness will be majorly reduced and the consequences will be devastating. Without either timely inpatient treatment in a hospital or continuous, sustained outpatient treatment through an effective AOT law, 2008 will not be off to a very good start for many people with a mental illness and their families and friends.