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Minot Daily News

January 5, 2003

Reprinted with permission of the author. All rights reserved.

Montana  family finds gap in mental-health system

By Jill Schramm, Staff Writer

Micheal Kemp of Minot isn't happy that he had to go to the emergency room with a stab wound before his brother could qualify for hospital care for his mental illness.

He's just as upset that others in his family had to be endangered because his brother was released only days later.

"It's got to be darn near illegal," he said of the hospital's release of his brother. "If not, it should be."

Officials at Trinity-St. Joseph's were unable to comment about the case but denied that they erred in releasing Kemp's brother.

Kemp said his brother, 20, had become lax about taking his medicine in the months before coming from Montana to Minot for the Christmas holiday. Although his brother's condition had deteriorated, he hadn't legally proved himself a threat to himself or others so that he could be hospitalized, Kemp said.

Kemp recalled that his brother was acting delusional on Christmas Eve. He had stepped outside briefly, and no one saw him take the steak knife from the kitchen when he came in. He stabbed Kemp in the chest, sending him to the hospital for stitches.

Kemp's brother was hospitalized in Trinity-St. Joseph's. Kemp's parents, who also were visiting in Minot, began a series of phone conversations with medical staff, social workers and law enforcement agencies to ensure that their son remained hospitalized until a commitment hearing could be held in Minot Dec. 31.

Doctors advised long-term hospitalization at the State Hospital in Jamestown and told the family that treatment would continue in St. Joseph's until the hearing and transfer could occur, Kemp said.

Ron Kemp, Micheal's father, said he and his wife stopped by the hospital to deliver personal items to their son Dec. 27 when they learned he was to be immediately released. Ron Kemp said the doctor told him that Montana Medicaid no longer would pay for the hospital care. The hospital waived the court hearing and issued papers saying their son was in stable condition, he said.

But Ron Kemp added the doctor also said, "He's a very sick boy, and you need to get him some help."

The Kemps returned with their son to Montana, where he again experienced another violent episode in attempting to physically harm family members. He was jailed overnight before getting into a hospital. He now is receiving long-term care through the Montana State Hospital.

Ron Meier, director of mental health services at St. Joseph's, said the hospital doesn't release patients unless they are stable or are to be transported to another center for care. If patients are dangerous to themselves or others, he said, "We don't just let them out."

That policy holds regardless of the person's residency or insurance status, Meier said. Montana Medicaid will cover a Montana resident hospitalized in another state as long as the hospitalization can be medically justified, he said. A patient who is stable, although not fully recovered, can be discharged into outpatient care, he said. Coverage of outpatient care requires a medical referral from a network provider in Montana

Michael Kemp and his family say the system failed them. His brother continued to be delusional and potentially a threat to himself or others when he was released, he said.

"The money runs out, so he's out," Kemp said. "That's the shame of the system."

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