For Immediate Release

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Contact: Brett Morrow

brett.morrow@mail.house.gov; (202) 225-2305

Rep. Takano Calls for Investigation of Nevada’s Busing of Mentally Ill Patients into the Inland Empire

Washington DC – Yesterday, Rep. Mark Takano (D-Riverside) joined Rep. Ami Bera (D-Sacramento) and nineteen other members of the California Delegation in sending a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Justice requesting an investigation into the busing of mentally ill patients from Nevada to California.

“If this practice of shipping patients with a history of mental illness to other states, known colloquially as ‘Greyhound Therapy,’ is occurring, it would not only be unethical and disgraceful,” the letter read, “but would also be an illegal attempt by Nevada to evict members of the state’s most vulnerable population to benefit its bottom line.”

A recent Sacramento Bee investigation uncovered that Rawson-Neal Psychiatric Hospital in Las Vegas bused approximately 1,500 mentally ill patients out of Nevada since 2008.

The investigation showed that 500 patients were sent to California alone, with 27 being sent to the Inland Empire.

Full Text of Letter:

Dear Attorney General Holder and Secretary Sebelius,

We are writing to urge the Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Human Services to open an investigation into the allegations that mental health providers in Nevada are transporting vulnerable individuals with serious mental illnesses across state lines. If this practice of shipping patients with a history of mental illness to other states, known colloquially as “Greyhound Therapy,” is occurring, it is not only unethical and disgraceful, but may also be an illegal attempt by Nevada to evict members of the state’s most vulnerable population to benefit its bottom line.

On April 14, 2013, The Sacramento Bee reported that a Nevada psychiatric hospital was engaging in the immoral practice of patient dumping. One of their patients, James Flavy Coy Brown, was sent on a fifteen-hour bus ride from the Rawson-Neal Las Vegas Psychiatric Hospital to Sacramento, California. He had never visited Sacramento before, had no friends or family in the area, and only had a medicine supply to last three days. Brown arrived in the city confused, with nowhere to go, and no one to contact.

Recent investigations have revealed that Mr. Brown was not the only victim of this practice. In the past five years, it has been reported that Rawson-Neal has shipped more than 1,500 patients out of Nevada – sending patients to every state in the continental U.S. California has been the largest recipient of psychiatric patients transported out of Nevada, straining California’s already over-burdened public mental health system.

We respectfully request that the Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Human Services investigate to see if any federal laws have been violated by, the State of Nevada, Southern Nevada Adult Mental Health Services, or Rawson-Neal Psychiatric Hospital as they pertain to Medicare and Medicaid funded patients. Additionally, we request that you examine if the practice of “Greyhound Therapy” is occurring in any other states. Federal action is warranted here, particularly in light of admissions from Nevada officials that their own investigation found “no pattern of misconduct.”

These shocking and inhumane practices raise a number of important federal concerns:

· This practice may constitute a violation of the federal EMTALA (Emergency Medical Treatment & Labor Act) requirements imposed on all hospital emergency departments that mandate medical and psychiatric stabilization prior to discharge;

· The purchase of one-way interstate bus transportation and involuntary escort and placement on such bus transportation may constitute interstate kidnapping in violation of federal statute;

· The purchase of one-way interstate bus transportation with federal funds earmarked for patient treatment may be a violation of a state’s requirements under the Medicare statute.

In the practice of medicine, doctors must obtain consent from patients both during treatment and also upon discharge from an in-patient facility. We question if patients who were discharged from the Rawson-Neal facility consented to and understood the plan to send them to another state at the time of discharge. Additionally, if they did not have the mental capacity to make these decisions, was their guardian contacted and consented to the relocation.

We must ensure that the first priority is the well-being of patients. Every state has a commitment to serve the needs of their patients. We ask that you investigate these allegations, so we can ensure that all individuals receive necessary and appropriate treatment in a safe and humane manner. We request that your respective Departments report back to us within 30 days on the status of the investigation and any of your findings.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this serious matter.

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Editor’s Note: This is crossposted from the DNC. – Caroline

We need immigration reform

Posted by
Bel Leong-Hong, DNC AAPI Caucus Chair

Women’s History Month is an opportunity to focus on the many women who have immigrated here and forged the nation we know today, including the first female U.S. Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright; Dr. Rita M. Rodriguez, the first woman to teach at Harvard Business School; and Maya Lin, the architect of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. While the achievements of these women are significant, women’s history also includes the unnamed women who advanced the course of our country. This encompasses the women who pioneered the West, those who taught in schools and toiled in factories. Our nation was built by women who sought a better life for themselves and their families. It was built by women who worked their way up career ladders, and who worked in the home; by those who followed their dreams, and by those who sacrificed their dreams for the sake of others. Women’s history includes you, and your mother, your sister, and grandmother, and all the things they have done which make our nation what it is. Our personal histories are just as noteworthy as our public one.

No matter how long we have been here, days, decades, or all our lives, each resident of the United States is a part of its history and its future. As the President said in his State of the Union address:

We are citizens. It’s a word that doesn’t just describe our nationality or legal status. It describes the way we’re made. It describes what we believe. It captures the enduring idea that this country only works when we accept certain obligations to one another and to future generations; that our rights are wrapped up in the rights of others; and that well into our third century as a nation, it remains the task of us all, as citizens of these United States, to be the authors of the next great chapter in our American story.

We Americans have one thing in common: we want the best possible life for our families, whether for economic security or for personal safety. For some, making the decision to immigrate to the U.S. provided themselves and their families the best possible opportunities. That is certainly true of my own family, who immigrated here more than 50 years ago.

In his recent State of the Union address, President Obama reminded Americans how significant immigration is to our country and the importance of repairing the broken immigration system. The President’s commonsense immigration reform proposal has four components: strengthened borders, tougher enforced penalties for businesses that hire undocumented workers, a path to earned citizenship for those undocumented immigrants who are already here, and an update to the legal immigration system. Commonsense immigration reform will strengthen our families, society, and country.

As a woman, an Asian American and Pacific Islander, a business owner, a Democrat, and a proud citizen, I strongly support commonsense immigration reform that would allow our families to be reunited; that would allow us to retain hard-to-get skills for the benefit of our businesses; that would allow “DREAMers” to have a path to citizenship; that would look at immigrants as the basic foundation of our society—as someone once said to me, even the original settlers were immigrants themselves!

A cute video by Douglas Kim on busting the model minority myth set to the tune of Ben Folds’ “Rockin’ the Suburbs.” The very well-cited video (yes, APAs cite the 4377 out of our Youtube entertainment) name checks tiger moms, paper tigers, “all my friends are pre-med,” and features an air guitar playing APA mom, and yes, the guy does get the girl in the end. In between, the protagonist gets chased by North Korean and American soldiers, and smashes up a cello and violin, like a rock n roll god of strut.

A bit of fun for your Monday.