COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Probate court judges would be giventhe authority to order outpatient
treatment for people struggling withmental illness under a bill approved by the Ohio House.Judges saythe
bill, which passed 87-6 on Wednesday, would give them options otherthan committing a person to a mental
hospital. It now goes to theSenate.Terry Russell, head of the National Alliance for MentalIllness Ohio,
said it’s a major step for the state. He said the billwould save lives by giving judges more clout to
"help people who needhelp, but don’t get help.""This is for people who are seenrepeatedly
in front of a judge and their illness is so severe they can’tstay out of harm’s way," Russell said.
"We’ve had so many catastrophesaround the country where people resist treatment."Russell
saidthe bill would allow judges to place people in the "least restrictiveenvironment," which
is outpatient treatment. Commitment to a statehospital is far more restrictive and more expensive to
taxpayers, hesaid.Opponents claim the bill would strip mentally ill people oftheir civil liberties by
allowing family members to force them to gettreatment, whether or not they want or need it.Linda
Hutchison ofColumbus testified in favor of the bill at House hearings. Her45-year-old son Joey, who was
bipolar, died Jan. 16, 2008, when he lefthome without warning, got into an accident, then ran into
traffic onInterstate 270."I tried for four months to get him off thestreet, but he resisted
treatment," Hutchison said Wednesday after theHouse vote. "They said, ‘There’s nothing we can
do.’ I told them we’vegot to get him off the street or he’s going to die. And that’s
whathappened."The Columbus Dispatch (http://bit.ly/J9Ia9r ) reported that the only
lawmaker to speak against the legislation wasRep. Tom Letson, a Warren Democrat. He said it’s a good
bill, but thereisn’t money available to pay for it.___Information from: The Columbus Dispatch, http://www.dispatch.comCopyright 2013 The
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