Letter: Two sides to ACLU
In my opinion and research, regardless of sexual orientation, race, etc., acute care psychiatric patients are the most mistreated group in America.
In my opinion and research, regardless of sexual orientation, race, etc., acute care psychiatric patients are the most mistreated group in America.
I spent five months locked in Alaska Psychiatric Institute. I suffered because of poor policies and lack of rights which contributed to mistreatment.
The state-run Alaska Psychiatric Institute was improperly designed not only to meet the needs of 13 years ago when it opened its doors, but for the foreseeable future.
Disabled psychiatric patients are often put in harm’s way because they do not have a clear right by Alaska law not to be.
OPINION: Improving and protecting the rights of Alaska Mental Health Trust beneficiaries can only help the state.
OPINION: Alaska needs an enlightened grievance avenue for disabled psychiatric patients -- not just an answering machine.
OPINION: If the state of Alaska continues to allow private mental health hospitals and psychiatric units to act with the power of the state, then the state has an obligation to set the patient grievance rules, due process and appeal process.
OPINION: Rep. Pete Higgins' mental health patient grievance bill deserves support. When psychiatric hospitals and units write their own grievance policy, due process, appeal process, etc., they protect the facility or unit, not the patients -- Who is speaking for the patients?
OPINION: The US used to celebrate people who worked at labor jobs in song and folklore; but these days it's tough to be an American worker.
OPINION: Alaska damages the dignity and recovery of psychiatric patients through a flawed grievance process. With several drafts of legislation available, the Legislature has no excuse for allowing the injustice to continue.
OPINION: Fundamental changes must be made in how psychiatric patients are provided services and how patients and guardians file a complaint and receive a resolution in the state of Alaska.
In Alaska, people suffering from mental illness can be detained, handcuffed, placed in the back of a marked police car and transported to a hospital for a forced evaluation. For the patient it is terrifying, humiliating, embarrassing and intimidating.