"Clinics In Action: The Mental Health Advocacy Project Challenges Illinois' Decision to Close Three State Hospitals"

Illinois operates nine inpatient psychiatric facilities housing approximately 1300 persons.  Faced with a substantial budget deficit, on September 8, 2011, the State announced its intention to close three of these facilities.  The State has also announced that it does not intend to fund alternative services in the community.  Because inpatient care is generally brief, each hospital bed serves several dozen persons each.  Thus, the reduction in bed capacity.will deny services to several thousand persons with serious mental illnesses each year.  The Mental Health Advocacy Project has been asked to help prevent these closures.  Chris Skene ‘12, Jeff Carroll ‘12, David Pi ‘13 and Mark Heyrman will describe our litigation and other strategies designed to either prevent the closures or force the state to fund alternative services. This talk sponsored by the Clinical Law Program and the Disability Law Society, was recorded on November 28, 2011.