Calif. Attorney, Nev. ACLU Sue Over Patient Dumping
On Tuesday, Sacramento civil rights attorney Mark Merin and American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada jointly filed a class-action lawsuit alleging that Rawson-Neal Psychiatric Hospital in Las Vegas and the state of Nevada violated the constitutional rights of patients with mental illnesses by discharging them via Greyhound bus to California and other cities nationwide. Since July 2008, Rawson-Neal has sent more than 1,500 patients to other states, a third of them to California. Merin said as many as 100 former patients could join the suit.
- "Nevada Facing Lawsuit Over Busing Mentally Ill Patients" (Hubert/Reese, Sacramento Bee, 6/12).