Dr. E. Fuller Torrey writes in the New York Post that a federal court ruling issued earlier this month which calls for releasing people with mental illness from group homes into more integrated settings will “mean disaster for New Yorkers.”

Torrey says many group homes are snake pits, but says at a minimum they do provide assurance that patients receive their medication. He says Judge Nicholas Garaufis should have ordered an overhaul of the state’s group homes, complete with a program of unannounced inspections by an independent state agency. Instead, he says, the judge “threw residents out on the streets.” An excerpt:

… So what is likely to happen from Judge Garaufis’ ruling? The state will close down the worst of the group homes and place the residents in situations where they will no longer receive medications. Many will then relapse, be rehospitalized, become homeless, and/or end up in jail.

Dr. E. Fuller Torrey is the founder of the Treatment Advocacy Center in Arlington, Va., and author of “The Insanity Offense.”

This entry was posted on Friday, September 18th, 2009 at 12:16 pm and is filed under commentary, 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.