Funds for mental health services to the low-income uninsured have been slashed in Texas, a state which ranks near the bottom of all states in regard to funding human services. I had hopes that places like Washington, with a better reputation for mental health services, would be unscathed, or would manage better than Texas. Well, Philip Dawdy writes in Seattle Weekly: Give Them Shelter that mandated cuts in funding due January 1 will result in 2000 people being unassisted and on the streets in King County alone.
Already, the agency is making stark choices. Do they keep treating a long-term schizophrenic whoÂ’s begun to improve and deny treatment to a new patient? Or do they treat the new person and cut off the otherÂ’s care? Untreated, the first one will most likely have a psychotic episode and end up in the hospital or jail or worse.
Now that is insane.
[via Chad]
That is, indeed, completely insane. How can anyone possibly make that choice? I’ve been fortunate in my mental illness, to still be able to hold down a good job and support my family. And it’s been a hard road. I can’t even imagine what it must be like to have to choose between food and treatment. There is something wrong with this world when we can’t have compassion for those who are suffering.