LAKEWOOD, Wash. — A Pierce County court commissioner has ordered the new CEO of Western State Hospital to admit a patient to that facility or go to jail.
Superior Court Commissioner Craig Adams told Cheryl Strange on Friday that if she doesn't admit a patient who had been wait-listed, she must report to jail June 15.
However, Strange told The Seattle Times after the hearing that she doesn't intend to admit the patient, citing testimony that the person is stable under the current arrangement.
The patient was ordered detained in April and May but was never admitted to Western because of lack of space. Instead, that person was held at a bed in a general hospital. In 2014, the state Supreme Court ruled the practice known as "psychiatric boarding" was unlawful.
Adams said state law doesn't allow a patient to be boarded in a hospital for more than one 30-day stint.
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Information from: The Seattle Times, http://www.seattletimes.com
Associated Press
