The AP (11/19, Ehrmann) reports, “New safety standards aimed at limiting suicide risks have led to overhauls inside hospitals around the country, with psychiatric facilities and wards removing bathroom doors, stripping artwork from walls and requiring patients to wear paper gowns instead of their own clothes,” changes that “have forced costly renovations and caused a backlash, with some critics contending they’ve made hospital rooms feel more like jail cells.” American Psychiatric Association President Bruce Schwartz, MD, said, “We’re buying the same furniture and plumbing fixtures as prisons and jails,” measures that are “creating harsher environments in psychiatric facilities,” according to the AP. The AP adds that the current “length of stay for psychiatric patients at a psychiatric facility is seven to 10 days, according to the APA.”
Related Links:
— “Hospital psychiatric wards now feel like prisons, some say, “Chris Ehrmann, AP, November 19, 2019