I received a comment to my previous post yesterday which made me realize that there still continues to exist so much misunderstanding about assisted outpatient treatment laws.
The comment I received was: "Yay. More dead psych patients to come, thanks to you and yours http://youtube.com/watch?v=dx11j0kcLn4. Hard for anyone to remain in treatment when they're killing their patients left and right."
The video is certainly a very sad, tragic story of loss of life due to neglect of the hospital staff and they should be held responsible for not providing the help that woman obviously needed. However, assisted outpatient treatment laws, such as Senate Bill 226, means that a person is provided treatment in the community where they live and they are given supportive services by the mental health agency or provider who is required by the court order to ensure the timely, consistent treatment, including medications, is provided for an individual wherever they reside.
Hospital emergency rooms aren't the only places where people are ignored. I think it is also terrible that, as a society, we walk by homeless people with a mental illness every day and ignore them as they sleep on the streets. They are often victimized (robbed, molested, left out in the elements) and sometimes commit crimes that then put them in jail or prison. People with severe mental illnesses who lack insight to seek treatment are ignored by our mental health system all the time, unless they are engaged in a dangerous activity. Even families who try to help their loved ones who are exhibiting psychotic symptoms and who desperately need help have to wait until there is a "clear and present danger" to report in our state.
So, yes, that video was a stark example of the neglect of the hospital staff and they should lose their jobs. But what consequences should the mental health administrators and agencies face because, on a daily basis, large numbers of people with a mental illness are neglected, too. You don't see them on a video in a psychiatric hospital, but just wander through the streets, visit some jails, or maybe go to a NAMI support group and listen to the families who are unable to help their loved ones obtain consistent treatment because they haven't yet done something to fulfill the "danger to self or others" that is required by law. Or visit the Treatment Advocacy Center's "Preventable Tragedies" site to see how many people we turn our backs on day after day, year after year.
In the end, we're all responsible for this negligence. Requiring our state law to allow for timely, compassionate assisted outpatient treatment would show that we understand and want to help those who lack insight to seek and remain in treatment. Passing Senate Bill 226 would show that we care...it is the responsible thing to do.
Showing posts with label mental health services. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mental health services. Show all posts
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Monday, April 14, 2008
Importance of inpatient and outpatient services
As Virginia puts into place the mental health bills that were recently passed, questions continue to arise as to the effects of more inpatient hospitalizations due to a change in their commitment criteria that now allows that there "exists a substantial likelihood” a person might cause serious physical harm to themselves or others as a result of mental illness for an involuntary commitment to be issued. However, there was no increase for the funds for state hospitals.
Meanwhile, their laws affecting outpatient treatment weren't raised to the standards of Kendra's Law, as their proposed SB 177 would have accomplished and that assisted outpatient treatment (AOT) model has outcomes that include a reduction in hospitalizations and incarcerations.
As stated by Robert Johnson, executive director of the Region 10 Community Service Board in Charlottesville in the article Number Crunch in The News Virginian, "“There really hasn’t been an increase [in funds for state hospitals] to meet our needs,” Johnson said. “And that’s because of a policy that [patients] should be integrated back into the community as soon as possible. And it’s a great policy. The problem is, when you do need a bed, it may not be there anymore.”
Meanwhile, their laws affecting outpatient treatment weren't raised to the standards of Kendra's Law, as their proposed SB 177 would have accomplished and that assisted outpatient treatment (AOT) model has outcomes that include a reduction in hospitalizations and incarcerations.
As stated by Robert Johnson, executive director of the Region 10 Community Service Board in Charlottesville in the article Number Crunch in The News Virginian, "“There really hasn’t been an increase [in funds for state hospitals] to meet our needs,” Johnson said. “And that’s because of a policy that [patients] should be integrated back into the community as soon as possible. And it’s a great policy. The problem is, when you do need a bed, it may not be there anymore.”
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Implementing AOT in CA
When California passed their assisted outpatient treatment law (AOT) Laura's Law in 2003, it passed without mandating that the counties in that state implement it. Unfortunately for the people in that state with a severe mental illness and lack of insight to remain in treatment, few counties are currently making use of that law.
However, according to an article in the California Chronicle, that could soon change. "Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco/San Mateo) has introduced legislation that would help local governments in providing assisted outpatient treatment (AOT) for people with severe mental illnesses. SB 1606 would remove a number of unnecessary and cumbersome requirements in the statute known as 'Laura´s Law,' and will allow counties to maximize their local dollars while giving appropriate services to the individuals who need AOT."
As Carla Jacobs, co-coordinator of the California Treatment Advocacy Coalition, states in this same article"We have the framework and a mountain of data to support AOT, what we need is the will from local government leaders to put this statute into action. People are dying who could have been helped."
As many of us advocate for changes to the treatment laws in Pennsylvania, we wish them success to see their AOT law implemented state-wide and will be sure to require that our counties have a mandate to implement our proposed bill, SB 226, when it becomes law.
However, according to an article in the California Chronicle, that could soon change. "Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco/San Mateo) has introduced legislation that would help local governments in providing assisted outpatient treatment (AOT) for people with severe mental illnesses. SB 1606 would remove a number of unnecessary and cumbersome requirements in the statute known as 'Laura´s Law,' and will allow counties to maximize their local dollars while giving appropriate services to the individuals who need AOT."
As Carla Jacobs, co-coordinator of the California Treatment Advocacy Coalition, states in this same article"We have the framework and a mountain of data to support AOT, what we need is the will from local government leaders to put this statute into action. People are dying who could have been helped."
As many of us advocate for changes to the treatment laws in Pennsylvania, we wish them success to see their AOT law implemented state-wide and will be sure to require that our counties have a mandate to implement our proposed bill, SB 226, when it becomes law.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Untreated Mental Illness - Who's To Blame?
I had originally written and planned to post information about my personal experiences of the heartaches and frustrations that I encountered as a family member of a loved one with mental illness who lacked insight and did not take prescribed medications. The process of watching someone you love deteriorate until they reach an acceptable level of dangerousness, as determined by a law, which requires "clear and present danger to self and others" as the law in Pennsylvania does, is the most unbearable experience that anyone could ever live through.
However, I then read an article this morning from a paper in Virginia: http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/news.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2007-10-30-0149.html. The incident is tragic enough, but what really drew me to want to write about this terribly sad incident, instead of my own personal experiences, were some of the comments posted under that article, such as:
Posted October 30, 2007 @ 09:55 AM by Anonymous
after reading this man's rap sheet i too am finding compassion a hard sell. i agree the family dropped the ball, this man needed to be under lock and key somewhere and his family should own up to their responcibility.
Posted October 30, 2007 @ 09:07 AM by Anonymous
I find it incredible that the man's sister, and whatever other family members, are blaming the community for their own failure. She knew he was sick and was required to take his medication. She states she was not his guardian, so she is indicating a third party was supposed to be his guardian thereby releasing her from any burdens. His family should be held liable for neglect and endangering the public by not providing the proper supervision and care for their own family member.
Posted October 30, 2007 @ 06:49 AM by OpEd
What's up with this man's sister? Somebody dropped the ball? Where does family responsibility come in? Perhaps I'm jumping the gun here, but it sounds like she was blaming the "system." If the community of family and aquaintances knows about this guy, then they are the first line of defense, not the overburdened mental and social services departments.
I was shocked and appalled by these comments because, as a family member who repeatedly waited and was frustrated by the mental health system when treatment was desperately required for my own daughter, only to be stopped by both lack of enough intensive services and our state's requirement for "clear and present danger to self or others" before she could receive the treatment she needed, it hit me hard to think that others would even consider blaming this family.
As a NAMI advocate, I was able to successfully work for the establishment of more intensive services in our county, and Bucks County was the first Program of Assertive Community Treatment (PACT, a.k.a. ACT) established in Pennsylvania that follows the national standards set up by the original program.
However, the extreme difficulty of obtaining timely services for family members when they desperately need them is still blocked by our current treatment law, the Mental Health Procedures Act of 1976, that still requires a level of dangerousness that no one should ever have to wait for, before they can receive treatment. I am now working with the Treatment Advocacy Center (TAC) to change our law, through the proposed Senate Bill 226.
Blame and pointing a finger at families who try desperately to get help for their loved ones and who often are involved in advocating for the changes needed will not resolve the issue of ensuring that someone with a mental illness receives the treatment they need. Enacting common-sense, timely assisted outpatient treatment (AOT) laws with adequate services and programs, as well as providing sufficient support in a hospital when needed, is what should happen.
As John Snook, Esq. from TAC stated about this tragedy in Virginia, "Unfortunately, the reports we've heard echo what families tell us far too often," Snook said. "Even when an individual has been ordered by a court to maintain their treatment, adequate supervision in the community simply isn't taking place."
I invite you to post your thoughts and comments on this issue. Do you think that the family was to blame? Should we be looking for changes to our mental health systems and laws?
However, I then read an article this morning from a paper in Virginia: http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/news.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2007-10-30-0149.html. The incident is tragic enough, but what really drew me to want to write about this terribly sad incident, instead of my own personal experiences, were some of the comments posted under that article, such as:
Posted October 30, 2007 @ 09:55 AM by Anonymous
after reading this man's rap sheet i too am finding compassion a hard sell. i agree the family dropped the ball, this man needed to be under lock and key somewhere and his family should own up to their responcibility.
Posted October 30, 2007 @ 09:07 AM by Anonymous
I find it incredible that the man's sister, and whatever other family members, are blaming the community for their own failure. She knew he was sick and was required to take his medication. She states she was not his guardian, so she is indicating a third party was supposed to be his guardian thereby releasing her from any burdens. His family should be held liable for neglect and endangering the public by not providing the proper supervision and care for their own family member.
Posted October 30, 2007 @ 06:49 AM by OpEd
What's up with this man's sister? Somebody dropped the ball? Where does family responsibility come in? Perhaps I'm jumping the gun here, but it sounds like she was blaming the "system." If the community of family and aquaintances knows about this guy, then they are the first line of defense, not the overburdened mental and social services departments.
I was shocked and appalled by these comments because, as a family member who repeatedly waited and was frustrated by the mental health system when treatment was desperately required for my own daughter, only to be stopped by both lack of enough intensive services and our state's requirement for "clear and present danger to self or others" before she could receive the treatment she needed, it hit me hard to think that others would even consider blaming this family.
As a NAMI advocate, I was able to successfully work for the establishment of more intensive services in our county, and Bucks County was the first Program of Assertive Community Treatment (PACT, a.k.a. ACT) established in Pennsylvania that follows the national standards set up by the original program.
However, the extreme difficulty of obtaining timely services for family members when they desperately need them is still blocked by our current treatment law, the Mental Health Procedures Act of 1976, that still requires a level of dangerousness that no one should ever have to wait for, before they can receive treatment. I am now working with the Treatment Advocacy Center (TAC) to change our law, through the proposed Senate Bill 226.
Blame and pointing a finger at families who try desperately to get help for their loved ones and who often are involved in advocating for the changes needed will not resolve the issue of ensuring that someone with a mental illness receives the treatment they need. Enacting common-sense, timely assisted outpatient treatment (AOT) laws with adequate services and programs, as well as providing sufficient support in a hospital when needed, is what should happen.
As John Snook, Esq. from TAC stated about this tragedy in Virginia, "Unfortunately, the reports we've heard echo what families tell us far too often," Snook said. "Even when an individual has been ordered by a court to maintain their treatment, adequate supervision in the community simply isn't taking place."
I invite you to post your thoughts and comments on this issue. Do you think that the family was to blame? Should we be looking for changes to our mental health systems and laws?
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