Oregon law and Trump order aim to expand forced psychiatric care
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A new state law and a Trump executive order intended to expand forced psychiatric commitments are being hailed by supporters as long overdue, while alarming advocates who say both measures fail to holistically address the mental health crisis.
Why it matters: These changes are meant to address the surge in mental health crises, but critics warn they risk overwhelming an already broken system.
Driving the news: Last month, Gov. Tina Kotek signed House Bill 2005 into law, changing the standard for civil commitment and allowing judges to consider past and potential future behavior before mandating psychiatric care.
- The Trump administration also issued an executive order last month calling for shifting homeless people into "long-term" institutions for "humane treatment," which the administration says will "restore public order."
But critics say neither law will have the intended effects.
- Civil commitment should be a measure of last resort, but the system lacks the kind of front-end resources that could prevent the need for commitment in the first place, Jude Kassar, supervising attorney at Disability Rights Oregon, who often represents individuals facing civil commitment, told Axios.
- "We wait until crisis occurs, and then we wring our hands and clutch our pearls and put people into hospitals," Kassar said, adding that little support exists for people after commitment ends, and they frequently end up being re-committed.
Between the lines: Kassar also fears lowering the threshold for civil commitment will also mean more commitments of people with less acute mental health issues, adding patients to a system that already suffers from chronic overcrowding.
The other side: Families of people suffering mental health crises are often denied civil commitment until their loved ones commit a crime, according to Chris Bouneff, executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness Oregon, who advocated for lowering the standard for commitment.
- "If we are going to compel someone into care, can we at least spare them the criminal record and attach a long-term health outcome to their care via the civil system?" he said at a hearing on the bill earlier this year.
- Bouneff said the lowering of the standard was "strategic" and would result in more people getting the treatment they need "without opening the doors too widely for commitment."
The bottom line: To have a truly effective system, Kassar said, Oregon needs significant resources devoted to pre- and post-crisis services, along with low-barrier housing and addiction treatment services.