Federal Lawsuit Ends With Major MH Care Investment
Abstract
Federal Lawsuit Ends With Major MH Care InvestmentRich Daly A statewide system of community-based treatments and support services for people with serious psychiatric illness in Georgia is expected to emerge from a final settlement of a lawsuit brought against the public mental health system by the Department of Justice. Public mental health services in Georgia are expected to improve dramatically as a result of a wide-ranging settlement of a lawsuit against the state that has dragged on for years. The lawsuit was initially intended to redress the harmful conditions of the state's psychiatric hospitals, but the settlement goes further: it requires the state to commit to a series of reforms in its public mental health system, including a large expansion of its community-based treatments and supports. The settlement reached by officials in Georgia and the Department of Justice (DoJ) was approved by a federal judge on October 29. The agreement also applies to people with developmental disabilities. The state must stop admitting people with a primary diagnosis of a developmental disability into state hospitals by July 2011 and instead place them directly into community-based service programs. Psychiatrists and other mental health advocates said that the agreement's most important