A federal judge sharply rebuked the state for failing to provide prompt mental health services to low-income children, saying that constant delays can lead to violent physical outbursts, removal from homes, and traumatizing and unnecessary hospital stays.
Massachusetts has repeatedly violated its own standard of providing certain mental health treatment to seriously ill children on Medicaid within 14 calendar days, with thousands of children having waited weeks, putting them at risk for “devastating setbacks,’’ US District Court Judge Michael Ponsor found.
Ponsor questioned whether even 14 days is too long to wait when a child is in crisis.
“If a Medicaid-eligible child had appendicitis, no one would suggest that a ‘reasonably prompt’ response would be an appointment within two weeks of onset,’’ Ponsor wrote in an order on Thursday.
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