Sandoval: Nevada will require escorts of mentally ill if they’re bused out of state

Nevada will require escorts for mentally ill patients who are bused out of state under a policy announced Wednesday by the governor’s office.

The new policy comes after California accused Nevada of dumping hundreds of mentally ill patients on other states.

Gov. Brian Sandoval strongly disputed the allegations, saying Nevada doesn’t engage in patient dumping. He said the state is helping mentally ill patients return home after being released from Nevada’s Rawson-Neal Psychiatric Hospital.

“Previously, the state had chaperones at the discretion of medical officers and we have escorted patients,” Sandoval spokeswoman Mary-Sarah Kinner said.

“In addition to other strengthened policies, we have made a decision to formalize the policy to require a chaperone on every out-of-state transport for which the state pays for the transportation.”

The patient dumping accusations were first raised after the Sacramento Bee reported Nevada had bused a homeless mentally ill patient to Sacramento, Calif., although he knew no one there and had no support services arranged for him.

Nevada officials admitted James F. Brown’s case had been mishandled and punished those involved.

The state also opened several investigations and instituted new policies to require the Rawson-Neal hospital administrator to approve all out-of-state transfers.

A Nevada review of 1,508 times the state bused mentally ill patients out of state turned up half a dozen cases that were improperly handled, a state official said Wednesday.

The review of all bus transfers since July 1, 2008, was conducted after California accused Nevada of dumping patients with no support.

Mary Woods, the spokeswoman for the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services, said the review had been completed.

But the full results won’t be released until the analysis is finished later this week.

The patient dumping accusations prompted San Francisco’s city attorney to launch an investigation of claims of Nevada’s patient dumping.

It also has embarrassed the Sandoval administration.

Sandoval said Tuesday that he is certain the state’s Rawson-Neal Psychiatric Hospital is doing a good job and that stricter policies will prevent future mistakes.

“Let me be clear, improperly discharging one patient is one patient too many,” Sandoval said in a statement.

“I take the concerns regarding Rawson-Neal Psychiatric Hospital very seriously, and it is not the policy of the state of Nevada to engage in ‘patient dumping’ as (has) been alleged. Rather, patients have a right, and a desire, to return home to their friends and families.”

Contact reporter Laura Myers at lmyers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2919. Follow her on Twitter @lmyerslvrj.