Big Brother Reprise

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott recently released an opinion that no medical treatment, testing, or evaluation is required before someone is transported to a mental health facility. He issued this ruling at the request of Kerr County law enforcement officials, who claim it takes up too much of their time to have patients properly evaluated before they are committed to the new mental health facility that I previously discussed in some detail in "Issues of Commitment".

Previous news reports had mentioned conflicts between local law enforcement officers wanting to just drop patients off at this facility and Hill Country MHMR officials who were insisting patients needed to be thoroughly evaluated first. This new ruling by the AG means people can be involuntarily committed without even undergoing basic medical examinations and blood tests--how Orwellian is that? If you live in the area served by this facility and are not concerned, you should be.