Judge: Psychiatric patients can’t be held in emergency rooms

By HOLLY RAMER
Associated Press

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — The clock is ticking for New Hampshire to stop the involuntary holding of psychiatric patients in emergency rooms after a federal judge declared the practice unconstitutional. The judge ruled Thursday that the state is violating the rights of hospitals by seizing their property. She gave the state and hospitals a month to submit proposed orders to end the practice or a timeline for how they would develop an order together. New Hampshire has long struggled with a mental health system that advocates say is overburdened at every stage, from initiation of treatment to re-entry into the community.