Dangerous patients can walk out of some hospitals
The suspicion that a few hospitals in the Tampa Bay area leak Baker Act patients like a sieve has bothered law enforcement officers and mental health advocates for years. Turns out they had reason to worry.
Most of the 32 acute-care hospitals in the Tampa Bay area appropriately restrain and treat troubled patients who are considered a danger to themselves or others. But four local hospitals, all owned by HCA, have repeatedly failed to meet this ...
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This sorry story plays out across the nation, because we have no effective way to treat severely mentally ill patients who pose a threat to themselves and others. Institutions like HCA make a cost-benefit analysis and figure the consequences of dealing with the one-in--100 'elopements' that result in death is cheaper than providing adequate staff.