Nevada Mental Hospital Investigated for Dumping Patients in Other States

May have broken laws

Los Angeles City Atty. Carmen Trutanich has launched a criminal investigation into possible patient dumping by a psychiatric hospital in Las Vegas, a spokesman said Tuesday.

Trutanich's office is trying to determine whether Rawson-Neal Psychiatric Hospital improperly dumped patients in Los Angeles, as alleged in an investigation by the Sacramento Bee.

"If we were to be able to find patients and we could determine that the patients were sent here by Rawson-Neal, then potentially there could be laws broken in doing that," said Sandy Cooney, a spokesman for Trutanich. "You can't just send patients without making sure there is someone on the other end to receive them."