Assisted Outpatient Care Pros And Cons

Like many mentally ill Kentuckians, Morton was neither dangerous enough to be kept in a hospital for long nor healthy enough to care for himself in the community. If successful, House Bill 94 would "keep people out of the revolving door of the hospital," Sheila Schuster of the Kentucky Mental Health Coalition told the committee. Most states have adopted some version of "assisted outpatient treatment" since the 1980s, when families of the mentally ill began to lobby for it. Police or family members can have the mentally ill involuntarily committed to a hospital for treatment once they deteriorate to the point that they pose a threat to themselves or others. First, at a hearing, a judge would decide if the individual met various criteria, including having a severe mental illness, symptoms of anosognosia, a likelihood that he would be a danger to others and a determination that outpatient treatment was the least restrictive alternative available.

Think of the human cost to someone who has been treated that way because we have had no other way to get them to take their medication and follow their treatment regimen. Schuster said the criteria for assisted outpatient treatment is specific enough in HB 94 that she only would expect about 25 people a year to qualify. Think of the human cost to someone who has been treated that way because we have had no other way to get them to take their medication and follow their treatment regimen," Schuster said. HB 94 also would add a section to the existing law on involuntary commitments that would let patients be discharged from the hospital if they agreed to participate in assisted outpatient