From the [Newark, NJ] Star-Ledger and Asbury Park Press:

Nearly 300 patients stranded inside New Jersey’s psychiatric hospitals for more than a year because of a lack of housing and outpatient treatment services will be discharged over the next five years, under a lawsuit settlement announced by a disability advocacy group and the state Department of Human Services.

The 2005 lawsuit contended New Jersey’s five psychiatric hospitals routinely and illegally confined hundreds of patients every year who are medically ready to leave but languish because they don’t have an affordable place to live with nearby treatment services.

The 1999 U.S. Supreme Court Olmstead decision affirmed the right of people with disabilities to live in their communities rather than in institutions.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 30th, 2009 at 11:14 am and is filed under community services, institutionalization, law, mental health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.