“While our prospective litigation asserts the rights of California
taxpayers, it’s equally necessary to protect society’s most vulnerable
from continued institutional abuse. Homeless psychiatric patients are
particularly defenseless from the kind of lawless ‘patient dumping’
practices Nevada officials engaged in. It’s my hope that our
investigation and possible class action will send a strong message to
public health facilities nationwide that there is a price to pay for such
inhumane treatment in the future—especially when California
jurisdictions are being victimized, too…reporting helped expose
Nevada’s improper patient discharge and busing practices, which may
otherwise have gone unnoticed.”
See City Attorney Dennis Herrera’s August 20, 2013 Letter to Nevada
State Attorney General Catherine Cortez Mastro
The Nigerian media has become inundated with academic comments
on the nuances of the forceful and involuntary removal of persons of
eastern origin from Lagos State to their home states. Because most of
the “deportees” have various health issues, this practice is inhumane,
legally, economically and morally wrong. Our position with this paper is
that the Attorneys-General of Enugu, Anambra, Ebonyi and Imo States
should (a) file a Class Action on behalf of the deportees before the
Federal High Court in Abuja seeking injunction and damages; (b) seek
reimbursement for health care costs and expenses associated with
taking care of the deportees; (c) Institution of Strict Mental and Medical
Health Protocols in hospitals under Lagos State government.
In the end, we shall outline the contents of the proposed Mental and
Medical Health Protocols required of Lagos State government.
Similar to Lagos’ deportation of medically challenged persons of
eastern ancestry, starting from April 2008, Nevada started to send
persons with mental illnesses to California with one-way tickets. The
facts were that the Nevada’s Rawson‐Neal Psychiatric Hospital in Las
Vegas bused more than 1,500 psychiatric patients to locations
throughout the nation. Some of these patients arrived in San Francisco,
Sacramento, Oakland, and other cities in California. Thereafter, the San
Francisco City Attorney’s office launched an investigation to determine
whether any of the
31 Greyhound bus tickets that Rawson‐Neal purchased for trips to San
Francisco conveyed improperly discharged patients. According to
Herrera, the preliminary conclusion of the investigation is that among
24 patients bused to San Francisco (including some who made
multiple trips), 20 sought and were provided emergency medical care
shortly after their arrival. Though the City Attorney’s investigation
remains ongoing, San Francisco expended nearly half a million dollars
for medical care for the patients who were not city residents at the time
that they were improperly bused here from Rawson‐Neal.
Earlier on, in March 2013, the Sacramento Bee first reported the story of
48‐year‐old James Flavy Coy Brown, a former Rawson‐Neal patient
who was sent on a 15‐hour bus ride to Sacramento—despite having
never before visited, having no friends or family members in the area,
and with no prior arrangements for his care, housing or medical
treatment. The Nevada‐run hospital had discharged Brown in a taxicab
to the Greyhound bus station with a one‐way ticket to Sacramento,
snacks, and a three‐day supply of medication to treat his
schizophrenia, depression and anxiety. Brown was instructed to call
911 when he arrived. A Rawson‐Neal physician reportedly
recommended “sunny California” to Brown as a destination, according
to the Sacramento Bee, because they “have excellent health care and
more benefits than you could ever get in Nevada.”
The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit on behalf of
Brown and others entitled: Brown v. Rawson-Neal 2:13-cv-01039
before the United States District Court, District of Nevada. According to
Brown:
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