LOUISIANA – Louisiana is failing to meet its obligation to provide mental health services to Medicaid-eligible children and families in the state, forcing thousands to unnecessarily cycle in and out of hospitals and psychiatric facilities far away from their homes for extended periods of time, and forcing some to become inappropriately involved in the juvenile justice system, according to a lawsuit filed today by five Louisiana families.
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), along with attorneys Kimberly Lewis and Abbi Coursolle of the National Health Law Program (NHeLP), attorneys Travis England and Britney Wilson of the National Center for Law and Economic Justice (NCLEJ), attorney Debra Weinberg of Disability Rights Louisiana, and attorneys Darin Snyder and Kristin MacDonnell of O’Melveny & Myers LLP, are bringing the lawsuit on behalf of five children and their parents.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court of the Middle District of Louisiana, describes how Louisiana knowingly fails to provide Medicaid-eligible children and families with access to intensive home and community-based services (IHCBS) throughout the state, despite the need for those services from children who have serious mental health needs. Louisiana Department of Health Secretary Rebekah Gee and the Louisiana Department of Health are named as defendants in the lawsuit.
As a result of Louisiana’s failure to provide needed mental health services, Medicaid-eligible children and youth who suffer from mental health issues deteriorate in their homes, communities, and schools; may encounter the juvenile-justice system; and cycle in and out of hospitals and restrictive psychiatric facilities, in violation of federal law.
All the plaintiffs in the lawsuit are children who have intensive mental health needs that are not being met or who have experienced unnecessary institutionalization in facilities that are far away from their families and communities.
The lawsuit seeks a court order requiring Louisiana to fulfill its obligation under the law to provide the necessary services for children with mental health needs and to prevent the unnecessary risk of institutionalization. It also asks the court to grant class certification to include all Medicaid-eligible children and youth under the age of 21 with a psychiatric illness, including children with severe emotional disturbances.
