Civil rights commission looks at Nev. busing of patients
By Cynthia Hubert, Sacramento Bee
James Flavy Coy Brown, a homeless and mentally ill man allegedly “dumped” by Nevada’s primary psychiatric hospital via Greyhound bus into Sacramento last year, on Friday became the national face of a problem that experts said is widespread and should be curtailed by federal authorities.
Brown’s story touched off a Sacramento Bee investigation into the Las Vegas hospital’s practice of routinely busing mentally ill patients to cities across the country. The saga was the centerpiece of a lengthy hearing before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights in Washington, D.C., that explored the need for reforms of a federal law designed to protect patients from being discharged without proper treatment and planning.
“James Brown and others like him can no longer endure a disintegrating system of emergency mental health care,” said Staci Pratt, who spoke on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada.