Brian Barnett, a psychiatrist in Cleveland, and Jack Turban, a resident physician in psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital, wrote in an op-ed for The Hill (4/27) that the coronavirus pandemic is raving psychiatric facilities in the US at a time when “we need the services of psychiatric facilities more than ever.” Barnett and Turban say, “Recent outbreaks in psychiatric facilities – many fatal – have occurred in Connecticut, Delaware, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Missouri, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, Washington, Wisconsin and Washington, D.C. At least 63 state psychiatric hospitals – which can house thousands of patients with the most severe forms of mental illness – are known to be afflicted across the country.” At the beginning of this month, the APA and other groups sent a letter to Vice President Mike Pence urging him to help secure PPE for workers at psychiatric hospitals and residential treatment facilities, but the letter received no response, and earlier this week, the APA and other groups wrote a letter to leaders in Congress stating that the mental healthcare system in the US is “crumbling.” Barnett and Turban conclude, “We’ll always need psychiatric facilities for those who’ve become too mentally ill to remain at home safely. And though we’ve long overlooked the important work these places do, now is the time to give them the attention they deserve. In our fight against this new threat, the needs of their patients and those caring for them shouldn’t be ignored.”
Related Links:
— “COVID-19 is ravaging America’s psychiatric facilities
, “Brian Barnett and Jack Turban, The Hill, April 30, 2020