SACRAMENTO, Calif. — There is a renewed effort to modernize California’s behavioral health laws as lawmakers and mental health advocates continue to fight for the many people who continue to die on the streets after failing to receive appropriate care.
What you need to know The current criteria for being considered severely disabled are if a person cannot meet their basic personal needs for food, clothing or shelter or if they harm themselves or others.
SB 43, authored by Senator Susan Eggman, would expand the definition of “severely disabled” to include people with a mental health disorder or substance use disorder who are at substantial risk of harm severe.
Lee Davis credits involuntary treatment for saving his life and allowing him to recover after suffering from bipolar disorder
Eggman also authored SB 363, which would create a database to show all available psychiatric beds in the state.
State Senator Susan Talamantes Eggman knows all too well the hardships it takes to get people with serious mental illnesses the help they deserve, having lost both an aunt and childhood best friend. because of mental health issues.
“Both of them ended up dying, basically, with their rights, they died with their rights fully intact, but died nonetheless, of not being able to take care of themselves,” Eggman said.
Eggman, a former social worker, says both her aunt and her friend because they did not meet the criteria to receive involuntary treatment under the Lanterman-Petris Short (LPS) Act, which was not put in place. updated since 1967.
“At that time, we were storing a lot of people in big institutions and not treating them the way they should be treated. And we didn’t have the treatments, we didn’t have the drugs that we have now,” Eggman explained. “And so in 1967 we said that, you know, we weren’t going to detain people for long periods of time and just store them, that people should be able to be treated in the community and ensure that the public stays in security. ”
Under the LPS, the current criteria for being considered severely disabled are if a person cannot meet their basic personal needs for food, clothing, or shelter or if they are causing harm to themselves or to others.
Eggman thinks the current criteria are failing to help those who need treatment the most. To make changes, the senator drafted Senate Bill 43 to reform the LPS Act by expanding the definition of “severely disabled” to lower the barrier to entry for guardianship and forced treatment.
“I think for everything, there’s a season and I think it’s time to change LPS. We have the opportunity. The state has been [sic] very determined – this administration – to look after the chronically mentally ill who also often find themselves homeless. So I think people understand that it has to happen,” Eggman said.
SB 43 would expand the definition of “severely disabled” to include people with a mental health disorder or substance use disorder who are at substantial risk of serious harm.
Serious harm would be situations where individuals failed to attend to personal or medical care or failed to attend to their own protection or personal safety. The bill would also stipulate that people who cannot afford adequate housing or clothing could be placed under guardianship and subjected to forced treatment.
Updating California’s behavioral health laws is what someone like Lee Davis fought for. The Oakland resident overcame bipolar disorder which caused her to suffer through two psychotic episodes.
“Some of my experiences are totally humiliating and completely embarrassing to talk about,” Davis notes. “I thought I could fly, I almost considered jumping off a building. I’ve done a lot of things that, by sheer luck, didn’t hurt me or anyone else.
Davis credits the involuntary treatment for saving his life and allowing him to recover.
“I felt like I had it all figured out. And it took me involuntary treatment to get what I needed to stabilize myself. And then to be able to actively make decisions for myself and my recovery, I didn’t ‘just wouldn’t have had the chance,’ Lee said.
SB 43 received strong bipartisan support in the state legislature, with progressive Democrats and conservative Republicans signing on as co-sponsors and speaking out about the need to change California’s behavioral health system.
“When you have James Gallagher and Scott Weiner saying the same thing, you know, you landed on something that we can all agree on,” Eggman said.
Opposition to SB 43 has come from civil liberties and disability rights organizations who argue that the forcible treatment violates people’s basic rights.
“SB 43 will not expand access to care, it will not divert people with mental illness from our criminal justice system – it will only perpetuate the revolving door of homelessness and institutionalization – the involuntary criteria do not need to be expanded,” Samuel said. Jain, senior policy attorney for disability rights in California.
Although Davis sees the current system as a violation of basic human rights.
“Involuntary treatment, I know a lot of people consider it coercive or depriving of individual freedoms, but I don’t feel free in a psychotic state. It really is my brain that has been hacked. She says.
SB 43 was recently passed by the Senate Appropriations Committee and now faces a floor vote before going to the Assembly.
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