A bill to boost oversight of the State Hospital advances to the House

A bill that would increase independent oversight of the Montana State Hospital passed the Senate on Tuesday.

The bill would automatically send reports of abuse, neglect, death and other incidents at the state hospital to Disability Rights Montana within five days.

The state hospital lost federal oversight and funding last year following patient deaths. Disability Rights Montana Executive Director Bernie Franks-Ongoy says that loss makes her organization’s role in protecting state hospital patients even more important.

“Previous to this, we had to know about the incident and then make a request for the records,” she said.

She adds that this bill would make sure Disability Rights Montana knows about all incidents of neglect and abuse at the facility. The bill will now move to the House for consideration.