State lawmakers and Gov. Kathy Hochul finally released details on their agreement to make it easier to involuntarily commit severely mentally ill people, included in part of the sprawling state budget that’s set to be voted on beginning Wednesday.
The new changes include much of Hochul’s original proposal to expand the criteria hospitals must consider before committing somebody and loosening the requirement around what medical professionals must sign off on on a commitment.
Under the law, someone could only be involuntarily committed if they showed a substantial risk to physically harm themselves or others.
That will now be expanded to include the substantial risk of physical harm to themselves due to an “inability or refusal, as a result of their mental illness, to provide for their own essential needs such as food, clothing, necessary medical care, personal safety, or shelter,” under the law…