Re “Push grows for return to court-ordered mental health evaluations” (March 22): You have recently published articles on jail deaths, CARE Court “underperformance” and homelessness. Sunday’s front-page revelation of a lifesaving tool that we are not using, Section 5200 of California’s Welfare and Institutions Code, is shocking. 5200 allows anyone, not just first responders, to request a comprehensive mental health evaluation by a professional. This differs from the cursory evaluation under a 5150, where sick people are routinely dumped back onto the street without adequate treatment.
The response from our county officials that 5200 is “redundant” and “antiquated” demonstrates ignorance of psychotic diseases with anosognosia, the inability to recognize you are sick. These folks cannot volunteer for services. June Dudas’ story demonstrates the barriers to getting her cousin into care before he carries out his threats to kill his mom. To ignore a statute already on the books to get our sickest into lifesaving treatment is unacceptable and an abdication of authority.
— Linda L. Mimms, Poway