Many beds at Seattle-based University of Washington Medicine's new behavioral health facility are empty as the state grapples with who will represent patients committed to the facility, the Seattle Times reported Jan. 22.
In May, University of Washington Medicine opened a $244 million, 150-bed behavioral health facility in Seattle. The facility includes 75 long-term civil commitment beds.
In November, the facility stopped admitting patients to its civil commitment unit, the Seattle Times reported, because there were not enough defense attorneys to represent patients. Under state law, a judge must rule a patient is not able to meet their own needs or is a danger to themselves or others to be held in a civil commitment unit, according to the report. A judge also determines how long the patient can be held in the facility.
The facility reopened admissions on a limited basis in January. Ian Goodhew, associate vice president for medical affairs at the University of Washington, told the Seattle Times the difficulty securing representation for patients has "set us back years."
"We're starting to worry about losing all the staff we’ve recruited because they literally had nothing to do," Mr. Goodhew told the outlet.
The facility has enough employees to accommodate 50 civil commitment beds. It currently has around 25 patients, Mr. Goodhew said.
Public defenders told the Seattle Times they do not have the staff or funding to manage the cases of all the patients at the facility.
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