It Really Sucks to Be Mentally Ill in Texas
Texas' notoriously porous mental-health system is in the news even more than usual this week. At Parkland, the psychiatric ER is yet again facing allegations of patient abuse. Last weekend, Dallas Police shot and killed Jason Harrison, a 38-year-old severely schizophrenic man who'd been medicated back to "competency."
And earlier this week the Sunset Advisory Commission, which reviews the performance of state agencies, released a report detailing what severe shortcomings in the state health system, with a particularly harsh criticism mental health services. And at the heart of the unflinching takedown of the Department of State Health Services.
With chapter titles such as "DSHS Has Not Provided the Leadership Needed to Best Manage the State's Public Health System" and "DSHS' Numerous Advisory Committees Lack Strategic Purpose, Limiting Their Effectiveness and Wasting Resources", the Sunset Advisory Commission's evaluation of the DSHS is, in a word, excoriating.
Matt Roberts, President of the Greater Dallas chapter of Mental Health America, says the report, while appreciated, is hardly surprising.
More at http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2014/06/it_sucks_to_be_mentally_ill_in_texas.php .