The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has launched a civil rights investigation into the mental health systems of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
The investigation, announced Tuesday by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Kentucky, will specifically probe whether or not the state subjects adults with serious mental illness (SMI) in Louisville/Jefferson County Metro to undue or to the undue risk of institutionalization in psychiatric hospitals.
Further, the investigation will examine if the state unnecessarily segregates people with SMI into psychiatric hospitals and potentially places them at risk of unnecessary encounters with law enforcement officers rather than providing integrated community-based mental health services, according to a news release.
“This DOJ investigation is into the state’s provision of mental health services to Louisvillians, and we appreciate any efforts to ensure people are getting appropriate care,” a representative of Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer’s office said in an email.
The offices of Gov. Andy Beshear and Attorney General Daniel Cameron have not yet responded to requests for comment. This story may be updated.
The state owns one psychiatric hospital — the 120-bed Central State Hospital — in Louisville. Universal Health Services (NYSE: UHS) operates 88-bed The Brook Hospital—Dupont and the 110-bed The Brook Hospital—KMI while UofL Health Inc. operates the 261-bed Peace Hospital.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office is investigating Kentucky under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in the release that her division enforces the ADA “so that people with disabilities are able to receive the services they need and qualify for, and that their civil rights are protected.”
“When people do not receive the community-based mental health services they need, they often get caught in a cycle of psychiatric hospital stays,” Clarke said in the release.
The ADA, signed into law in 1990 by President George H.W. Bush, prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities and ensures the same opportunities to participate in “mainstream of American life,” according to a DOJ webpage.
“A state must make reasonable accommodations and provide appropriate community-based services to people with disabilities,” U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky Michael Bennett said in the release. “Our office will vigorously enforce the ADA. Our fellow citizens with mental health disabilities deserve nothing less.”
Prior to the announcement, the department informed the offices of Kentucky’s Governor and Attorney General of the investigation’s initiation, the release states.
The DOJ makes references to a 1999 U.S. Supreme decision in the case Olmstead v. L. C.
The high court determined that the state entities were required by the ADA to provide mental health patients community-based services where medically appropriate and desired by the patient. The 6-to-3 decision also rejected the Commissioner of Georgia’s Department of Human Resources’ claim that the state didn’t have to comply with the ADA because of financial constraints.
This isn’t the first time that states have been in hot water over providing proper mental health care services. In April 2021, DOJ concluded that Alameda County, California, violated the ADA and the civil rights of people with SMIs by failing to provide adequate community mental health services and unnecessarily institutionalizing patients.
Earlier in the year, the DOJ Civil Rights Division announced an investigation into the treatment of people with mental illness in adult care homes by the State of South Carolina.
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