Wednesday, October 29, 2003

Give mentally ill care, not jail cells (Georgia)
Editorial in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, reprinted at the NAMI web site - "Georgia's mental health care delivery system is crumbling. Publicly funded treatment for the mentally ill is at the mercy of fraud, waste, underfunding and lack of community commitment. Many of the services are teetering on the brink of bankruptcy due to budget cuts, mismanagement and, in some cases, outright theft. Two of the 25 community service boards that contract with the state to deliver mental health services have been under criminal investigation for waste and Medicaid fraud. Another has been taken over by the state because of money problems and several others are in financial trouble..."