Many people involved in the civil
commitment process, from family members
to doctors to behavioral health
workers to police and judges,
say the state standards for
forced mental healthcare
need to be reviewed.
You know, civil commitment laws
haven't changed significantly
since they were written in the 70s.
The needs have changed.
Treatment options have changed,
treatment programs have changed.
Kathy Shumate leads a team of
investigators in Multnomah County.
She says civil commitment
should be a last resort,
but it may be time for everyone to
ask is the bar where it should be?
This is such an important law
and such an important process.
That impacts people's lives so
significantly that I think to
let it sit idle in the statutes.
Doesn't serve us well,
it doesn't serve our community well,
and I don't think it serves people who
are living with mental illness well.
Our KGW investigation found about
90% of people taken to a Multnomah
County hospital on a forced mental
health hold were released within
five days before a judge could
rule on any civil commitment.
Many of these people may have
agreed to treatment.
But thousands of people were released
because they didn't meet state standards,
even though police officers or
behavioral health workers said their
apparent mental illness symptoms were
dangerous to themselves or others.
Understanding that the bar is
that high to protect the civil
liberties of the individual,
is it at the same time possible that
the status of that bar being high?
Could lead to an individual not
receiving either recommended care
or the care that they would need.
It does. They may be discharged from a
treatment setting without the length or
level of treatment that's recommended.
And they leave that place.
Continuing to experience significant
symptoms of their illness.
Judges have written that high standards could
be an issue preventing some people from
getting help before they end up in jail.
Portland Police Lieutenant Chris
Burley says officers feel frustrated
perpetuating a cycle of taking someone to
a hospital for mental health treatment,
only to later find them in crisis again.
I do think as a community we need to
come together and say as a state are we
comfortable with where it's at right now,
Burley says. People with severe mental
illness can be released because their
illness stabilizes in the hospital.
Only to deteriorate again on their own,
but I think it is telling like
they got a bed, they got meals,
they have a roof over their head.
Treatment, yeah, some treatment.
That's for some folks,
that's what they need.
So why would we stop providing that? But
Casey Lewis with disability
rights Oregon says not so fast.
He admits there are gaps in
the civil commitment system,
but says focusing on the law is misguided.
So I think rather than looking at
the standard for civil commitment,
the really the thing that would
make the biggest difference for
people with mental illness and for
the Community would be to say,
how do we keep people from
ever getting to that point?
Lewis says the bar is high
to protect individual rights,
and so few people are civilly committed
because mental health workers rightfully
encourage any other option first,
like voluntary treatment.
Instead, Lewis says,
we need to do a better job of
caring for people when they're
released from a mental health hold.
We need to be having more resources
available in the Community,
more placements for people who
maybe need wrap around services,
who need more supportive housing,
who need medication management,
things like that. What
can we do if the individuals buy in isn't
there, if it's not voluntarily something
that they will accept or seek out?
Nine times out of 10 if you.
Are able to sort of spend more time
with a person with mental illness,
really understand what they need.
There are ways to connect
them with those resources,
even if they are initially reluctant.
You can build that trust and
you can build the relationship
that it really takes to do that.
For Brenda Gardner, fixing
this cycle for people with severe
mental illness is personal.
She and her husband spent
years trying to find help.
For their son Eric, who experienced
violent thoughts and delusions.
Housing was a major problem.
As a parent, would you have
hoped for something like civil
commitment for stability of
medication or something like that?
Yes. If there was a decent facility
available, he's functional enough.
If he had a little bit of support and,
you know, supported housing,
I think he could manage.
She says the entire community suffers
for failing to help people with
serious mental illness symptoms.
Pointing out an overlap
with the homeless crisis and
at times, drug addiction and
crime. Eric Gardner is
now homeless in Seattle.
Sometimes his parents have been able
to visit him, but they wish
there was more they could do.
The problem is that the laws
were changed so that their
civil rights are what is all
important and their safety is not.