(ProPublica) – Discharging patients who are at risk of harming themselves or others is illegal. But dozens of psychiatric hospitals aren’t honoring the law — and the government isn’t following up.

Over 90 psychiatric hospitals across the country have violated EMTALA in the past 15 years and almost all have faced the same lack of consequences, a ProPublica investigation has found.

Since 2019, the HHS inspector general has only issued three penalties involving EMTALA violations by psychiatric hospitals. Taken together, these penalties totalled $427,000. (The inspector general has levied additional fines against medical hospitals for inadequate care of patients with mental illness.) (Read More)