Nevada: GO WEST, MENTALLY ILL!

[strawman]

San Fransisco alleges that Nevada bused more than 500 mentally ill patients in psychiatric hospitals to California. A typical example is one man being given three days of medicine, some snacks, a few personal belongings, and a one-way greyhound ticket to a city in California. They instructed him to call 911 once there.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/21/health/california-nevada-patient-dumping/index.html?hpt=hp_bn1

Got state budget blues? Why not shove all the mentally ill indigent people you're currently caring for with public funds to another state! I'm sure no one will notice, and who cares if it's essentially abusing the mentally ill - they can't defend themselves.

 

[MindDetective]

I heard about this with homeless people when I lived in Reno 10 years ago. The releasing of mentally ill patients has been increasing around the country for a while now too, not just in Nevada.

 

[GasBandit]

Could this be considered a form of biological warfare?

 

[Chad Sexington]

Apparently New York does this with the vagrants in Central Park, dropping them off in further burroughs. Gah.

 

[Espy]

So...

 

[sixpackshaker]

California... taking in the crazy homeless since 1849.

 

[Tress]

Yeah, we're fucking delighted about it around here too.

 

[Bowielee]

While I'm not sure about all the possible confounds, I'm fairly certain there is a positive correllation between the number of people released from state care and the number of homeless people.

I did a volunteer homelessness survey during one of our annual aide benefits for the homeless, and the aggregated preliminary data from those who administered the survey were that the vast majority of people taking the survey had both untreated mental and physical illnesses.