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Emergency Mental Health Programs Called Into Question After Taunton Attack
PlayMany questions remain about the mental health services Arthur DaRosa received in the day before he went on a deadly stabbing rampage in Taunton Tuesday evening.
On Thursday, the hospital where DaRosa went for help — Morton Hospital in Taunton — says it has banned the outside contractor that evaluates MassHealth (Medicaid) patients who come in with psychiatric emergencies.
State policy says emergency mental health evaluations of patients with MassHealth must be done by outside behavioral health vendors. They're known as Emergency Service Programs.
On Wednesday, Morton Hospital called that policy "misguided." It wants its own clinicians to evaluate all patients.
The Emergency Services Program the hospital is banning, known as Norton Emergency Services or Taunton/Attleboro Emergency Services, is actually run by the state Department of Mental Health.
Megan Wiechnik, the resource helpline director with the National Alliance on Mental Illness Massachusetts chapter, told WBUR's All Things Considered host Lisa Mullins the system as it stands works — sometimes.
