San Francisco board approves settlement with Nevada over mental patient busing
CARSON CITY— The San Francisco Board of Supervisors gave final approval Tuesday to a $400,000 payment from Nevada to settle a lawsuit over the state's practice of busing indigent mental patients to the city in years past.
The agreement now goes to Mayor Ed Lee for his signature. The agreement between the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services and the city must also be approved by the San Francisco Superior Court.
The agreement was approved without comment by the board.
Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval said the agreement includes mandates for both parties concerning patient management and movement practices and will bring an amicable end to the matter. The Nevada Board of Examiners, including Sandoval, approved the settlement last month.
About 500 mentally ill patients were sent by Nevada state officials to California, including more than two dozen to San Francisco, City Attorney Dennis Herrera said in 2013.
The settlement did not include any admission of wrongdoing by Nevada.
Nevada also owes about $2 million to a San Francisco law firm hired by the state to defend against the lawsuit.
Herrera praised the accord after the Board of Supervisors gave initial approval last month.
"I'm pleased we reached an agreement that will assure the well-being of psychiatric patients when they're transported, and that also offers a model for how jurisdictions can work together to better protect our patients and taxpayers," he said. "Although much of our litigation involved jurisdictional issues, I want to give credit to the Nevada officials who worked with us to hammer out substantive details of this agreement."
As part of the recommended settlement agreement, Nevada will only provide travel assistance to California for patients who meet appropriate criteria, ensuring that the patients are returning to a home address or to a medical facility or program, and that they will be received or accompanied by a responsible individual.
Herrera's office investigated and found that Nevada improperly bused indigent patients from Rawson-Neal Hospital, its state-run psychiatric facility in Las Vegas, without prior arrangements for patients' care, housing or medical treatment.
The hospital improperly discharged and unsafely transported more than two-dozen patients by Greyhound bus to San Francisco between 2008 and 2013, according to Herrera's investigation. In many cases, patients were transported without adequate food, water or medication, and without instructions or arrangements for their continued care when they reached their destination.
Contact Sean Whaley at swhaley@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3900. Find him on Twitter: @seanw801
