On Tuesday, The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved Supervisors Kathryn Barger and Mark Ridley-Thomas’s motion to sponsor state legislation that urges the expansion of mental health care services.
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State Assembly Members Miguel Santiago, D-Los Angeles, and Laura Friedman, D-Glendale, introduced legislation on Wednesday to expand the definition by which local governments are able to provide critical medical care to homeless individuals who suffer from mental health issues.
The legislation would amend the state’s definition of “gravely disabled” pursuant to the recommendation by the Department of Mental Health (DMH), to read, “a condition in which a person, as a result of a mental health disorder, is unable to provide for his or her basic personal needs for food, clothing, shelter, or medical treatment where the lack or failure of such treatment results in substantial physical harm or death,” according to officials.
“It is inhumane to be a bystander when we have the power to do something to save lives in this vulnerable population,” Santiago said. “We need to ensure there is proper medical care for homeless individuals with mental illness who are suffering on the streets with serious physical ailments.”
The assembly bill brought to the floor was introduced only a day after the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted to approve legislation.
“Allowing the most vulnerable to languish and even die on the streets without a lifeline to medical care is inhumane,” said Barger in a statement released on Jan. 30 “With today’s action, we can move forward to employ an effective approach to help deliver lifesaving treatment and care for those desperately in need and add California to 37 other states who consider medical treatment a basic human need for those suffering from a mental illness.”
On October 31, 2017, the Board of Supervisors had approved a motion brought forward by Supervisor Barger that instructed the DMH to work with advocacy groups and various experts to develop the legislative recommendation.
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