San Francisco has demanded Nevada reimburse local California governments for the care of about 500 patients given "Greyhound therapy," according to a San Francisco Chronicle report.
In a letter to Nevada's Attorney General, San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera accused Nevada of sending psychiatric patients from a state-run hospital across the border knowing and expecting the patients to seek healthcare funded by California taxpayers, according to the report.
Mr. Herrera claims San Francisco alone spent $500,000 on the care of these patients. In the letter, he calls on Nevada to reimburse expenditures made on behalf of these patients within 20 days or face a class-action lawsuit.
Mr. Herrera believes staff at Rawson-Neal Psychiatric Hospital in Las Vegas instructed patients on how to receive publicly funded care once in California. He sees the incident as "a very well documented case of a state-sanctioned patient-dumping scheme," according to the report.
"The manner in which these patients were transported was inhumane and unacceptable," wrote Mr. Herrera, according to the Chronicle. "These patients were transported without escorts; without prior arrangements for a responsible party to receive them at their destination; (and) without adequate provisions of medication or food."
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