HealthDay (1/19, Mozes) reports, “Homelessness is difficult enough, but when it’s compounded by serious mental health issues,” sometimes “a state-appointed psychiatric conservator can take over, making critical healthcare decisions for a person deemed mentally unstable.” Now, in a study involving “nearly 800 Los Angeles residents, aged 18 to 56, who were involuntarily hospitalized within a non-profit ‘safety net’ psychiatric facility sometime between 2016 and 2018,” investigators found that “nearly half of admittees to psychiatric care were homeless,” and “among that group, about one in every seven were placed under a mental health conservatorship.” Often, these particular patients “faced ‘very lengthy hospital stays,’ averaging about five months, although some went even longer.” The findings were published online Oct. 27 in Psychiatric Services, a publication of the American Psychiatric Association.
Related Links:
— “Conservatorships Keep the Homeless in Psychiatric Wards Too Long: Study ” Alan Mozes, HealthDay, January 19, 2022