To reverse the insidious practice of warehousing the mentally ill, which occurred under the previous administration in Springfield, the Illinois General Assembly approved and Gov. George Ryan signed into law last year important mental-health reform legislation that aims to deliver full services to the mentally ill living in nursing homes. Warehousing mentally ill patients in nursing homes without full treatment services, which are available in state mental health facilities, is unacceptable.
Mentally ill patients living in Illinois nursing homes will receive quality care under this law. The legislation and the House Select Committee are an outgrowth of a three-part investigative series by the Chicago Tribune in September 1998 that reported serious cases of patient abuse and neglect at Illinois nursing homes resulting from the inappropriate admission and treatment of mentally ill people.
The law requires the Department of Public Health to provide every resident with a diagnosis of mental illness and all necessary mental-health services. It also requires the nursing home facility to arrange for services from an outside provider. Moreover, the law directs the Department of Public Health to provide training for personnel regarding appropriate assessment, care planning and care for patients with a mental illness or developmental disability inhabiting nursing homes.
The state has a responsibility to provide equal and quality services to all mentally ill patients its care.
This law is eliminating the mere warehousing of mentally ill patients and instead providing proper care for those who are living in nursing homes.
