Judge Rules NH Has 1 Year To Stop Holding Psychiatric Patients In ER

CONCORD, NH — New Hampshire has one year to stop involuntarily holding psychiatric patients in emergency rooms, and the state can only hold people in emergency rooms for up to six hours before transferring them to a facility for treatment, U.S. District Court Judge Landya McCafferty ordered Wednesday, according to the Associated Press.

The state and hospitals were given time to submit proposed orders or a timeline for how they would develop an order together, but both sides couldn't come to an agreement, the outlet reported.

In February, McCafferty ruled that the state is violating hospitals' right to be free from unreasonable seizures of their emergency departments by failing to allow patients to be immediately transported from the hospitals' emergency departments to other care facilities.

A group of hospitals joined the lawsuit, arguing their rights were violated.

New Hampshire has long struggled with a mental health system that advocates say is overburdened at every stage, from initiation of treatment to re-entry into the community. Emergency room boarding, with people in crisis waiting days or weeks for treatment, has become a flashpoint.

"Emergency department boarding is not therapeutic for anyone, and in some cases, we have heard from individuals and families where it has exacerbated the situation," Susan Stearns, executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness New Hampshire, told WMUR in February. "It's an issue here in New Hampshire that has been going on for over a decade."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.