BUFFALO, NY (WKBW) — Governor Kathy Hochul said public violence has been a growing concern in our state for some time and now there’s an extra worry in recent weeks following a surge in violent attacks in the New York City subway system.
But now the governor is proposing a change to state law by making it easier for facilities to involuntarily commit a person suffering from severe mental illness.
Gov. Hochul pointed to those recent horrific subway attacks that "involved people with serious untreated mental illness." She said they have become "disconnected from our mental health care system."
That's why the governor wants to change the state's involuntary commitment rule, so those with mental illness can get the help they need and protect the public.
“There's been a real push to try and help people to enter into treatment, and sometimes it's a very difficult thing to do,” Mark O’Brien, commissioner, Erie County Mental Health Department said.
I spoke with O’Brien who said there always must be "a balance between public safety and the individual's rights."
“When somebody is psychotic, and psychosis, by definition, is called a break with reality, which has an impact on how you perceive things around you, your thoughts and then your behaviors, so what we take as a given may not be what that person is perceiving and thinking in the moment,” O’Brien explained.
O’Brien said he is waiting to see all the details of what that expansion Hochul is proposing would look like.
“I think it is one piece of the puzzle,” responded Cindy Voelker, president & CEO, Spectrum Health. “The challenge that we have in the system is to address people's needs.”
Voelker told me she is also interested to see more details on the governor's proposal.
“You don't want to be hospitalized and hold people against their will if they don't need it, but also, if you're sick, then you need the help,” noted Voelker.
I also asked the mental health experts about the sometimes shortage of inpatient beds at facilities like the Buffalo Psychiatric Center or ECMC.
"That is definitely a challenge. I think in terms of that and keeping people long enough in a facility to get them to a stable point,” Voelker said.
Commissioner O’Brien told me the psychiatric center recently added more than 20 beds.
“ECMC is in the process of restoring inpatient beds that were closed during COVID. There was a mandate by the governor, with some funding, to reopen the beds,” noted O’Brien.
The governor is now urging state lawmakers to approve her bill once presented in this year's state budget.
