According to the New York Times (5/8, A1, Richtel, Flanagan), across the US, “hospital emergency departments have become boarding wards for teenagers who pose too great a risk to themselves or others to go home.” Teens who are in danger of dying by suicide “have nowhere else to go; even as the crisis has intensified, the medical system has failed to keep up, and options for inpatient and intensive outpatient psychiatric treatment have eroded sharply.” In a recent study involving “88 pediatric hospitals around the country,” researchers “found that 87 of them regularly board children and adolescents overnight in the” ED, and “on average, any given hospital saw four boarders per day, with an average stay of 48 hours.”
Related Links:
— “Hundreds of Suicidal Teens Sleep in Emergency Rooms. Every Night. “Matt Richtel, The New York Times, May 8, 2022