COLUMBUS, Ohio - There's a move at the Ohio Statehouse to change the law relating to who has the power to send someone to a mental health hospital for evaluation.
It boils down to a signature on a pink slip and who gets to sign it. That would open the door to detaining a person deemed to have a mental illness and transporting them to a hospital for an evaluation. Candy Rinehart is in charge of the Ohio Association of Advanced Practice Nurses. She says the idea to help speed up access to mental health care.
"House Bill 111 was drafted in response to the concern that our people receive mental health services in a safe, timely and competent manner," Rinehart says.
Rinehart says passing the bill would allow for a licensed mental health care specialist to send a patient for a mental health eval without a doctor or police officer to complete that pink slip.