(Feb. 17, 2016) Tim Morton would enter a psychiatric hospital, stabilize and then get released. But because he didn’t believe he had schizophrenia – a condition known as anosognosia – he would inevitably stop taking his prescribed medication and spiral downwards until he became dangerous enough to require hospitalization again.
In 2014, at 54 years old, he passed away from long-neglected health problems.
Before his passing, Tim Morton was involuntarily hospitalized for psychiatric treatment thirty-seven times over the course of his long battle with mental illness.
Kentucky has an assisted outpatient treatment (AOT) law, but advocates for people with severe mental illness have said the law is not usable as-is for most people who need treatment, ensuring that they will deteriorate until the point where they require inpatient hospitalization – bypassing the option of treatment in the community altogether.
Now, a proposed bill in Kentucky’s Legislature, House Bill 94 - named “Tim’s Law” - would modify the state’s assisted outpatient treatment (AOT) law so that it can help people like Tim before they hit rock bottom and require inpatient hospitalization (“Involuntary treatment weighed for mentally ill,” Courier Journal, Feb. 12).
HB 94 would finally bring Kentucky’s AOT law into line with how other states design their AOT programs – requiring a mental health case manager who would monitor the person’s progress. If the person fails to comply, the judge could order the person to be re-hospitalized.
Joann Strunk said such a measure could have helped her daughter, Sarah, 28, who has long battled schizophrenia. She was often not enough of a danger to herself or others to be involuntarily committed to a hospital, which left Strunk unable to intervene before problems exploded.
“If I had had a way of keeping her in treatment and taking her medication when she turned 18 – she might not have deteriorated in the years that followed," Strunk said.
The bill would also help people recently released from a psychiatric hospital. Kentucky law currently provides no real follow-up treatment ordered to keep someone on medication after discharge, perpetuating the cycle of hospital recidivism.
“If successful, House Bill 94 would help the most severely mentally ill out of the revolving door of jails and psychiatric hospitals,” said Sheila Schuster, executive director of the Kentucky Mental Health Coalition, which supports the bill.
Tim’s Law would make great improvements to the state’s mental health system and allow the most severely ill Kentuckians – those too sick to realize they need help – to access the treatment they so desperately need.
To comment, visit our Facebook page.
Visit our blog archive to read all our recent posts.