The City of San Francisco recently won a lawsuit against the state of Nevada, receiving a $400,000 settlement after they were able to prove the state sent homeless psychiatric patients to their city with the intention of leaving them there.
In the lawsuit, San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera accused a Las Vegas area psychiatric hospital of shipping its patients out of the state.
According to the lawsuit:
"Over the past five years, the state of Nevada has transferred to other states approximately 1,500 patients discharged from its state-run Rawson-Neal Psychiatric Hospital, including 500 patients that Nevada sent by Greyhound bus to cities and counties in California."
The lawsuit went on to describe how many of the homeless and mentally ill who were illegally deported from Las Vegas and other areas of Nevada needed medical attention within hours of being dropped off by bus.
Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval told the San Francisco Examiner that they will continue to ship patients to California, but will do so according to a formal agreement made at the time of the settlement. The terms of the agreement have not been made public.
In a statement to the Examiner, Sandoval said that the settlement would"validate the patient management best practices and procedures which Nevada has had in place for two years." He added, "We look forward to working with California to ensure all patient transfers to and from both states are managed using these best practices and adhering to conditions detailed in the agreement."
Comment: Unlike in Medicine Hat, the first city to eradicate homlessness, cruelty and callousness towards the homeless is the norm with no improvement in sight.