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HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - A lawsuit filed Monday accuses Connecticut of violating federal law by forcing hundreds of psychiatric patients to live in nursing homes, often in segregation, when community-living alternatives would better suit them.
The federal lawsuit was filed by one state agency, the state Office of Protection and Advocacy for Persons with Disabilities, against the state's departments of social services, public health, and mental health and addiction services. The OPA was joined by the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, based in Washington.
James McGaughey, OPA's executive director, said he hopes the lawsuit will change the state's policy of placing mentally ill people in nursing homes, an issue that also has raised concern among advocates for the state's frail elderly population.
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