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| Is Napa State Hospital a Safe Place? FAMILIES
HAVE LITTLE RECOURSE Several unnatural deaths at Napa State Hospital in recent years raise serious questions about the quality of care at the hospital. But families who have protested the deaths of their sons, or sued the hospital in federal and state courts, have found little relief. They insist that the state Department of Mental Health and the judicial system pay scant attention to their complaints. ... CRIMINALLY
INSANE TAKING OVER STATE HOSPITALS Shortly after midnight on Christmas, Orrin Patrick, a 45-year-old mentally ill patient at Napa State Hospital, led a young orderly into the starkly lit dayroom on Unit T-7. There, lying in a pool of blood on the speckled linoleum floor, was John Reed, 48, of Yuba City. He had been pummeled in the face and strangled. To hospital employees and patients' rights advocates, Reed's slaying exposes a fundamental flaw in California's mental health system: Criminally inclined, often violent patients are now in the majority at state hospitals - and the hospitals are ill-equipped to handle them. The problem has reached a critical stage at Napa State Hospital, which has a severe employee shortage and where staff members are given only rudimentary training on how to deal with criminal behavior. With more than 100 job vacancies at the hospital, the nursing staff has barely enough time to clothe, feed and medicate patients, let alone deal with violent outbursts. ... Napa State Hospital Hospital's operating budget Approx. $138 million a year Average cost of care per patient Approx. $107,000 a year Current population 1,081 patients Criminal to civil patients Civil 21% Criminal 79% Male to female patients Female 25% Male 75% Source: Napa State Hospital
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