Congress Must Act Before More Tragedies Happen
July 7th, 2008
Congress should make sure the callous treatment and tragic death of Ms. Esmin Elizabeth Green while waiting for admission to the psychiatric ward at Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn, N.Y. is not forgotten following the 48-hour news cycle that included the posting of video of her death on YouTube.
After sitting in a waiting room for 20 hours, the 49-year old woman fell to the floor and was ignored by hospital attendants.
The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) has called for state and local criminal and oversight investigations in the case—but Congress also should realize that the tragedy is part of broader systemic issues. It is not an isolated incident. Other tragedies are waiting to happen.
Emergency rooms are just one part of the problem. Earlier this year, the American College of Emergency Physicians www.acep.org released a survey that indicates emergency psychiatric care is “extremely limited” and “getting worse.”
More than 60 percent of psychiatric patients needing admission to a hospital have to stay in the emergency department over 4 hours after a decision to admit them has been made; 33 percent wait over 8 hours; 6 percent over 24 hours. 62 percent of emergency department medical directors indicated that no psychiatric services for patient care are provided while patients are waiting for admission or transfer. 89 percent transfer psychiatric patients every week to other facilities due to unavailable psychiatric beds at their own hospitals.
As one very modest step, Congress should pass S. 1003 and H.R. 882, the Access to Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Act.
But two additional bills stand out for action.
Congress should pass H.R. 2050, the Medicaid Emergency Psychiatric Care Act, that would pay for in-patient care in emergency situations, as well as H.R. 1155, which would repeal the Institutions for Mental Disease (IMD) exclusion under Medicaid. These measures are important for systemic reform.
Mental health is part of health care, but too often mental illnesses are devalued or overlooked. When that happens, the results are often tragic—as Ms. Green’s death sadly testifies.
Permalink | Comment on this post (1)
By
