Dumping lawsuit rejected

U.S. District Judge James Mahan declined to reconsider his dismissal of a lawsuit against Rawson-Neal Psychiatric Hospital in Las Vegas by patient James Brown, one of many who were dumped by the hospital.

After a three day stay at the hospital in February last year, Brown was put on a bus with a one-way ticket to Sacramento, six containers of Ensure, and three days worth of his medications. He was told to call 911 when he arrived in California's capital, where he knew no one.

Hundreds of such Nevada dumpings were revealed last year in exposes in the Sacramento Bee.

The lawsuit, filed by attorney Allen Lichtenstein for Brown, sought damages and an order to stop the dumping. Mahan dismissed the suit last year and upheld that dismissal last week. Lichtenstein said he will appeal.

The Nevada's Legislature's Interim Finance Committee last week approved $3.5 million to supplement the regular mental health budget and beef up mental health programs at both ends of the state. Mental health has suffered severe cuts in state spending during the recession.