Advocates hope NH court ruling helps mental health patients waiting in ERs
Modified: 5/20/2021 11:00:11 PM
WEST LEBANON Mental health advocates, lawmakers and providers say they’re hopeful that changes underway to address the persistent problem of long wait times in hospital emergency departments for patients in need of inpatient mental health treatment will make a difference.
“For patients, they hopefully will pretty quickly see a decrease in wait times and rapid admission to inpatient care when needed,” said Ken Norton, the director of the New Hampshire chapter of the nonprofit National Alliance on Mental Illness.
After the New Hampshire Supreme Court ruled that psychiatric patients being held involuntarily in emergency rooms must be given a chance to contest their detention within three days of their arrival, Gov. Chris Sununu announced at a news conference last Thursday that he was issuing an executive order to try to address the matter.
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