Stay Vigilant to Assure the Law Does Not Become Permanent
Upon signing the bill into law, Governor Murphy issued a statement in which he noted that the law “is not intended to serve as a permanent framework."
(Read the Governor’s Full Statement Here: Microsoft Word - S3929 (d31hzlhk6di2h5.cloudfront.net)).
The hospital systems supporting this law have noted that hospital ERs do not have the staffing, capacity, or expertise to provide high-quality, specialized mental health services. Individuals are sometimes held on gurneys in hospital emergency departments with limited care and virtually no treatment planning. Rather than fixing a fragmented system of mental health care, this bill accepts system failures by denying appropriate treatment to the individual in crisis.
Moving forward, New Jersey must find alternative solutions versus extending involuntary holds which may further traumatize the individuals being held, strain facilities and their staff, and will not provide individuals with the care they need to achieve wellness in this critical period of time.
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