Budget Cuts Hit L.A. County's Mentally Ill

This article in the Los Angeles Times was published on August 10, 2004:

Mentally ill losing services because of Los Angeles cuts - Tuesday, August 10, 2004
(08-10) 03:01 PDT LOS ANGELES (AP) --
Thousands of mentally ill people who rely on the government for treatment and medication are losing services because of a $28.6 million cut in Los Angeles County's mental health services.
The cuts, which were approved in June by the county Board of Supervisors, are affecting all sectors of the county's public mental health system, including outpatient clinics that treat walk-in clients and psychiatric units at state hospitals.
"There are going to be an awful lot of people caught in the cracks," said Dr. Marvin Southard, the county's mental health director. "You can't cut almost $30 million from a chronically underfunded system without negative consequences. People will probably die as a result of the curtailments we are creating, but we are still trying to minimize the harm."
The $28.6-million cut to the Department of Mental Health represents just 3 percent of the department's overall budget, which is funded primarily by the state and federal government. But people without health insurance are being hit hardest because only the county's contribution pays for them.
The county has decided to limit treatment for many of the 35,000 patients without health insurance who rely on outpatient clinics that take walk-in patients.
In another major cut, the county eliminated funding for 65 out of 307 beds at state hospitals. Many patients who have been institutionalized for years will be moved into less restrictive mental health facilities, and more than two dozen have already been moved.
Erick Johnson, a 42-year-old diagnosed with schizophrenia, was upset at being moved from the locked ward at Metropolitan State Hospital in Norwalk, where he lived for nine years.
"Erick was not happy," said Debra Hinton, his older sister, "and I feel that a person in his situation, at least let them have some happiness in their life."
But Hinton said she likes some aspects of the center where Johnson now lives, La Casa Mental Health Rehabilitation Center in Long Beach, which tries to prepare people with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or major depression to go home. Hinton said she appreciates the open atmosphere, which includes a pool, gymnasium, aviary and classrooms.
More than a dozen patients have moved since June, to La Casa, where the average stay is roughly six months.
"It's kind of challenging our philosophy," said Dr. Ken Foxman, La Casa's clinical director. "I don't know if we're going to be able to get them ready for the community in six months or a year. We need to be more patient. Although we may have this fantasy of them living with their family or in their own apartment, they may not be ready for that."
Although financially driven, the county's transfer of patients to cheaper, less-restrictive facilities is in line with a 1999 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that said patients in state mental hospitals have the right to move to community homes with approval from their doctors.

Here is the response to this article published in the Letters To The Editor on August 12, 2004 by Joel John Roberts, the Executive Director of PATH:

CUTS BOOST HOMELESSNESS

"Re 'Budget Cuts Hit County's Mentally Ill,' Aug. 10: The sad consequence is that people will not only be 'caught in the cracks,' they will fall through the cracks. They will end up roaming our streets, knocking on the doors of homeless services for help because Los Angeles County needs to trim its budget.

A penny-wise, pound-foolish move. When our county is already overwhelmed with homelessness-and has become the homeless capital in America--we can't afford to contribute to this human dilemma simply to save a few bucks."