Heartless: Nevada Dumps 1,500 Mental Patients Via One-Way Greyhound Ticket to California

[BridgeTheGap]

A new lawsuit filed by the city of San Francisco on behalf of the state of California alleges that over the past five years, the state of Nevada has dumped 1,500 mental patients onto other states by putting them them on Greyhound busses and sending them over state lines with no prior arrangements with families or other mental hospitals once they arrive.

According to the federal class action lawsuit that the city of San Francisco is spearheading, nearly all of the patients bussed to California need continuous medical care—none of which Nevada state arranged, and all of which cost the city of San Francisco at least $500,000.

"While some of the patients were given the names of shelters or told to dial '911' upon arrival in California, a substantial number were not provided any instructions or assistance in finding shelter, continued medical care, or basic necessities in the cities and counties to which they were sent," the formal complaint states.

Rawson-Neal Hospital and its administrators and staff, which include doctors, nurses and social workers, were aware their patients were indigent, living in shelters or on the streets of Las Vegas or other Nevada cities, and suffered from mental illness requiring ongoing medical care and medication, the plaintiff says.

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/ca-sues-nv-dumping-mental-patients

[madaboutharry]

1. We are such a cruel species.

[gopiscrap]

2. This should not be allowed

[BlueToTheBone]

3. Shades of Ronald Reagan.

He dumped all the patients at state and fed hospitals and today street corners are filled with homeless, mentally ill people. Especially Vietnam vets.

[King_Klonopin]

6. You got that right.

The "problem of the homeless in America" wasn't part of the
American consciousness until Saint Ronnie put an end to public
financial support for the chronically mentally ill via State hospitals,
group homes, etc. The VA Hospital in Bedford, MA is forced to use
some of its space, and its money, to shelter homeless veterans !

The taxpayer still pays the tab in the end, as well as the hospitals
that end up providing "free care" (no such thing as "free care",
of course) These are people who are treated like disposable, plastic
objects thrown onto the trash heap of society. No other industrialized
nation has a "homelessness" problem like ours, and it all started in
the 1980's. Connect the dots.

[BlueToTheBone]

8. It's hell to be old and remember all this

shit from the 80s. The GOP has much to answer for.

[Jefferson23]

4. Bastards. n/t

[Doctor_J]

5. The nation has completely lost its moral compass

we are now the country of Hate Radio.

[blkmusclmachine]

7. !

!

[jsr]

9. Recommend

[groovedaddy]

10. Don't forget this one: Mariel boatlift

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariel_boatlift

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

11. Someone should be looking at...

... a lengthy prison sentence for pulling something like this -- incredibly heartless.

[freshwest]

12. Why the 1% own our ass. We won't unite to take care of each other, but they take care of each other.

Sure someone can make it sound more ideological or complicated, but that's the result of people turning on each other. So quick, that it makes the head spin.

[BridgeTheGap]

13. The 1% are adept at the "divide and conquer" method. With vast wealth

at their disposal, they have learned to use psychology, fear, etc. to keep people in a state bordering on trauma. This state tends to keep people's brain functioning in the reptilian "fight or flight" portion, rather than the frontal lobes (higher thinking, logic, etc.).
http://admin.alternet.org/media/most-depressing-discovery-about-brain-ever?akid=10941.260941.Vfiyri&rd=1&src=newsletter897375&t=4