SACRAMENTO – Governor Gavin Newsom today announced the following appointments: Joelle Gomez, 55, of Stockton, has been reappointed to the Commission on the…
Under the law, a court can order individuals with severe mental illnesses to receive assisted treatment.
Adopted in California in 2002, the law is named after Laura Wilcox, a 19-year-old woman who was shot and killed by a man with untreated mental illness, according to the nonprofit Treatment Advocacy Center.
Under Assembly Bill 1976, counties are required to participate unless they opt out, according to the California Association of Local Behavioral Health Boards and Commissions.
To qualify for treatment under Laura s Law,
an individual must be 18 years or older with a severe mental illness; unlikely to survive safely in the community without supervision; and have a history of noncompliance for treatment of mental illness, Riverside University Health System Behavioral Health Director Dr. Matthew Chang said.
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Rafla-Yuan, M.D., is a psychiatrist and legislative director of the San Diego Psychiatric Society. He lives in Point Loma.
Fifty years ago, if you fell and broke your leg or had a heart attack, there likely weren’t ambulances around. Instead, someone called 911 and the police came to take you to the hospital. It wasn’t until the 1970s when national policy changes and grassroots advocacy led to the emergency medical services (EMS) model we rely on today. Assembly Bill 988 gives us the opportunity to similarly update our mental health emergency response with the same important premise: Mental health emergencies need trained professionals, not police.