A.K.
On
Dec. 20, 2007, Washington State’s highest court
reversed a lower court’s imposition of extended
detention of children who had run away from their foster
care placements. The court issued a fragmented decision
with multiple opinions, drawing heavily on an amicus
brief filed by the Bazelon Center and mental health advocacy
groups. The outcome, however, is that a juvenile court
cannot use
its contempt
authority to incarcerate foster care runaways unless it has first
explored statutory
alternatives and also has ensured that needed mental health and
substance
abuse services have been provided. Read
about the case...
J.A.
v. Barbour
July 11, 2007—Troubled teenage girls in a state-run reform school in Mississippi
have suffered “horrendous” physical and sexual abuse, according to
a lawsuit filed in federal court today. The complaint asks the court to require
the state to provide federally required mental health and rehabilitative treatment
to girls confined in the Columbia Training School. Find
out more about this case...
Katie A. v. Bonta
This lawsuit challenges the longstanding practice of
confining abused and neglected children in costly
hospitals and large group homes instead of providing
mental health services that would enable them to
stay in their own homes and communities. Find out more about this case here.
R.C. v. Hornsby
Working with the ACLU and the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Bazelon Center reached a landmark 1991 settlement with the state of Alabama for total reform of Alabama's child welfare system through this lawsuit.
Emily Q. v. Belshe
The Emily Q. plaintiffs are children with intense mental health needs who have been placed in or are being considered for placement in a psychiatric facility or have had at least one emergency hospitalization. They seek wraparound services such as behavior management services, a one-on-one therapeutic aide, attendant care, crisis intervention, case management and transportation assistance. For updates on this case, visit the Emily Q. section of the bulletin board of Protection and Advocacy, Inc. of California.
Parental Rights
In
Re C.W. (amicus) A Missouri appeals
court ruled on January 10, 2007 that general conclusions
about a mother’s
mental disorder, based on stereotypes about her ability
to care for a child, cannot support termination of her
parental rights. The Bazelon Center’s amicus brief
offered support for what is an altogether too rare decision. Read
more…
Blackman v. District of Columbia
This 1997 class action lawsuit found the District
of Columbia to have violated the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act, a federal law that guarantees children
with disabilities the right to a free and appropriate
public education. On August 29, 2006, the long-awaited
agreement spelling out steps to end delays in District
of Columbia students’ access to needed special
education received court approval. A December 2007
agreement committed the city to take specific steps
and expend significant resources to implement the agreement. Find
out more about this case here.
Nott v. George Washington University
Jordan Nott was a straight-A sophomore at George Washington University in the fall of 2004 when he sought emergency psychiatric care for depression. When they learned of Nott’s hospitalization, university officials charged him with violating the school code of conduct, suspended him, evicted him from his dorm and threatened him with arrest for trespassing if he set foot on university property. In March 2006, the Bazelon Center filed a complaint on Nott's behalf in October 2005, with the hope that settlement discussions will lead to development of a model policy for educational institutions. The case was settled in October 2006. Find out more about this case here.
Chambers v. San Francisco
Over
the next five years, several hundred residents of the Laguna
Honda Hospital in San Francisco will move to independent apartments linked
to the supportive services they need, according to the settlement in a class-action
lawsuit announced on November 27, 2007. The case
was resolved by agreement between the
city and five advocacy groups representing
recipients of California’s Medicaid
benefits, called Medi-Cal, who live
at Laguna Honda, are in San Francisco
General Hospital and eligible for discharge
to Laguna Honda, are on the waiting
list for the nursing home or have been
discharged from it within the past two
years. Find out more about this case...
Williams v. Blagojevich
Residents of Illinois nursing homes charge that they and many others with mental illnesses are “needlessly segregated and inappropriately warehoused” in violation of federal laws including the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Read more...
Disability Advocates,
Inc. v. Spitzer
The lawsuit addresses New York State's illegal segregation of approximately 4,000 residents of large "adult homes" which lack the staff, resources and mandate
to provide integrated housing and services to promote community living. Find out more about this case here.
New Jersey P&A v. Davy
This class action challenges the illegal confinement of nearly 1,000 individuals in New Jersey’s four state psychiatric hospitals. The Bazelon Center asserts that the state’s commissioner of human services has failed to ensure that community services are available to these residents and instead has warehoused them for years after they are ready for discharge. Find out more about this case here.
Pierce County v. State of Washington
Caught in the vicious cycle that’s all too common across the U.S. today, hundreds of people with serious mental illnesses, have been committed to this hospital for short-term interventions, then discharged to a community with inadequate resources to meet their needs, only to lapse into crisis and be recommitted to the hospital or taken to jail—over and over again. Find out more about this case here.
Davis v. California
This two-year-old lawsuit, challenged the practice of
serving people with disabilities in a 1,200-bed nursing
home, without considering community alternatives as
mandated by the Americans with Disabilities Act. Find
out more about this case here.
Emergency Services
Sampson v. Beth
Israel Deaconess Medical Center
This lawsuit filed in federal district court in June 2006 charges that
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and one of its nurses, without justification,
had five male guards forcibly strip a woman with a history of sexual abuse who
had gone to the emergency room for treatment of migraine headaches. Read more
about the case.
Bravo v. Board of Commissioners of Doña Ana County Filed in federal court in New Mexico, Bravo challenges the lack of mental health services and release planning in the county jail and discriminatory arrest practices by local law enforcement officers. According to the complaint: “The predictable result is often recidivism and a cycle of arrests and detentions, at a great personal cost to the individual and at a great financial and social cost to the public at large.” Find out more about the case here.
William G. v. Pataki
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of parolees with serious mental illnesses and substance abuse problems who are languishing in jail, waiting for state-funded treatment services to become available. State officials have told them that they can be released for treatment, but not enough treatment facilities exist to help them. Find out more about this case here.
Nevels v. Western World
Western World, a company selling commercial malpractice liability insurance, had cancelled or refused to renew liability insurance for providers of housing for people with mental disabilities. But, without insurance, these housing providers were forced to go out of business or deny housing to people with mental disabilities. The Bazelon Center alleges that refusing to provide insurance because of residents' mental disabilities interferes with residents' right to housing under the Fair Housing Act. Find out more about this case here.
Goodman v. Georgia
In a narrow decision that leaves many questions unanswered, the Supreme Court has ruled that Congress has the authority to apply the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to state prisons, at least insofar as it reaches conduct that could also be challenged under the Fourteenth Amendment. Find out more about this case here.
Tennessee v. Lane
This lawsuit resulted in an important ruling that states can be sued for money damages under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act for failing to
provide people with disabilities access to the courts. Find out more about this case here.
Olmstead v. L.C.
In this decision, the Court held that the unnecessary segregation of individuals with disabilities in institutions constitutes discrimination based on disability. Find out more about this case here.
Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law
1101 15th Street, NW, Suite
1212
Washington, DC 20005
