4 ms·
First of all, I definitely appreciate the perspective of a Public Defender with experience in this area. I spent a year working as an EMT picking up my fair sha
by phobosanomaly 6y ago
First of all, I definitely appreciate the perspective of a Public Defender with experience in this area. I spent a year working as an EMT picking up my fair share of patients on 5150 holds from PD off the street and bringing them to the ER or to the nearest mental health emergency receiving facility. I do agree, this kind of stuff is not pretty up-close. I've been the scared kid in the back of the box with the guy credibly threatening to murder me.
If we had a system where people could be placed on a medical hold, and taken somewhere to receive humane treatment with a safe environment to get better, my god, I wouldn't have any problem with that at all. But, I have spent my fair share of time bringing patients into county mental health facilities, and oh man they can be kind of terrifying places. The system, as it exists now, is not even remotely capable of what you describe.
It would be great to see a system for humane, limited-term institutionalization with long-term follow-up like you're talking about. If there's a coherent policy platform somewhere that outlines what this would look like and how we get from A to B, I would love to see it.
- gamblor956 6y agoI agree that there are no adequate county medical health facilities. On the other hand, the state mental hospitals are very good at what they do. I had multiple clients treated at Patton (one of the state mental hospitals for criminal offenders) and they are all still maintaining self-medication years after treatment.
- phobosanomaly 6y agoI wasn't familiar with the state facilities. I'll definitely check them out. Moving from here to there is just, well, daunting to say the least.
- scruple 6y agoAsking for personal reasons here. What does it take for a person to, for want of a better word, graduate from the county level facilities to the state level facilities?
- gamblor956 6y agoIt's not a choice the patient gets to make. Almost all of the state mental hospitals are for criminal patients. AFAIK only one is open to non-offender patients and they only take referrals.
- scruple 6y agoRight, yeah, I understand it's not a patient driven decision. I'm asking because my brother in law is diagnosed mentally ill, frequently homeless, frequently placed on 5150 holds, frequently arrested for crimes, including at least once or twice being popped, at least initially, for class 4 felonies. He's got arrest warrants in Arizona and Nevada from skipping bail. He is, seemingly, permanently stuck in the county level system between SD, Orange, and LA counties, and it _does not work_. > Almost all of the state mental hospitals are for criminal patients. Is this a specific legal thing, like criminally insane? > AFAIK only one is open to non-offender patients and they only take referrals. I wasn't aware there was the possibility of referrals. We'll look into this the next time it comes around...
- phobosanomaly 6y agoI'm so sorry for what your family is going through. My severely autistic adult nephew finally got placed in a county-affiliated group home, but getting him there and keeping him in the program is a full-time job split between various family members. He's been on a few 5150s, and anywhere he winds up half the time they have him drugged out of his mind. Our country's infrastructure for handling these problems is borderline criminal. I sincerely hope that you guys are able to get your brother in law some help.
- scruple 6y agoThank you for the kind words. I appreciate it. It's very challenging and I agree with you completely that the way we handle things in this country is simply horrific.