The historic settlement that has governed Maine’s mental health system for more than 30 years will end after the state met the benchmarks outlined in a 2021 agreement for dissolving the decree.
Retired Maine Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Daniel Wathen, the court master overseeing the consent decree of 1990 that settled a lawsuit from patients of the former Augusta Mental Health Institute, said in a filing last week that the state had come into “substantial compliance” with the agreement according to the Portland Press Herald.
The lawsuit was brought on behalf of patients of the former AMHI after overcrowding, a paltry community mental health system and other problems related to the large institution on a Victorian-era campus in Augusta contributed to the deaths of 10 patients.
State psychiatric hospitals were required to meet certain benchmarks under the 2021 agreement between the Mills administration, Wathen and Disability Rights Maine lawyers representing the plaintiffs in the 1990 lawsuit. The state must also contract with Disability Rights Maine to provide more advocacy services and assign a liaison to assist patients having trouble getting timely help.
Among the many requirements are that state-run hospitals discharge 90 percent of patients deemed ready for discharge within 45 days of such a determination and respond to 90 percent of phone calls to a crisis line within 10 seconds.
“The department has been working hard to strengthen Maine’s adult community mental health system of care to ensure timely access to high-quality services over the past six years, and we are pleased that our systemic improvements are making a difference,” DHHS Commissioner Sara Gagné-Holmes said in a statement reported by the Press Herald.
Maine continues to face challenges with its mental health services, despite expanding access to a crisis hotline and establishing relationships with patient advocacy groups.
This summer, a scathing federal investigation detailed maltreatment at out-of-state programs where Maine youth are receiving mental health treatment. The U.S. Senate Committee on Finance’s 135-page report, released in mid-June, detailed rampant instances of maltreatment, substandard care and poor oversight at youth residential programs operated by the country’s four largest for-profit behavioral health providers, which provide intensive treatment for some of the country’s most behaviorally challenged adolescents.
Two weeks ago, Maine lawmakers on the Government Oversight Committee announced that they wanted more information on staff injuries and other issues at the state’s two psychiatric hospitals: Riverview Psychiatric Center in Augusta and Dorothea Dix Psychiatric Center in Bangor.
A report must be submitted to the committee by Feb. 15. Members will then decide next steps, which could include a full review.
BDN editor Michael Shepherd and Maine Public reporter Patty Wight contributed to this report.
