'Failing Patients': Baltimore Video Highlights Crisis Of Emergency Psychiatric Care
A viral video from Baltimore is drawing attention to a crisis that's unfolding in emergency rooms across the country: Surging numbers of patients with psychiatric conditions aren't receiving the care they need.
On a cold night in January, a man walking by a downtown Baltimore hospital saw something that shocked him. He started recording the incident on his phone.
Imamu Baraka's video, which has been viewed more than 3 million times, shows security guards walking away from a bus stop next to the emergency room of University of Maryland Medical Center Midtown Campus.
One is pushing an empty wheelchair. The woman they left there is wearing a thin yellow hospital gown and socks.
"Wait, so you're just going to leave this lady out here with no clothes on?" Baraka asks the guards. They continue walking away.
The woman, later identified as a 22-year-old named Rebecca, staggers near the bus stop. She appears distressed and confused. She moans and shouts.
"Are you OK, ma'am? Do you need me to call the police?" Baraka asks.
Nationwide, hospitals are struggling to provide services tofor psychoses and bipolar disorders and depression, anxiety and stress reactions , which compiles health care data. Between those years the number of visits climbed from 3,448 visits to 5,330 per 100,000 U.S. patients ages 15 and older.
