Courts require releasing patients with serious mental illness to less‑restrictive settings as soon as acute symptoms abate, even when relapse risk is high. This legal standard, paired with limited coerced‑treatment tools and uneven antipsychotic efficacy, cycles people through ERs, brief holds, jails, and back to the street.
— Reframing 'least‑restrictive' as a driver of repeat crises forces legislators and courts to weigh liberty against sustained stabilization and public safety.
Devon Kurtz
2025.09.17
100% relevant
The Charlotte light‑rail killing by a man with untreated psychosis is used to illustrate how current rules dump patients back into environments where they quickly decompensate.
2025.07.30
80% relevant
The article argues that properly implemented, court‑ordered AOT breaks the cycle of ERs, jails, and repeated hospitalizations for a narrow group with untreated psychosis—contrasting with 'least‑restrictive' norms that lead to revolving‑door crises—and criticizes HHS/GAO for muddying this by evaluating voluntary programs.
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