While anxiety, depression and other mental-health conditions started to climb among children before Covid, they soared during the isolation and disruption of the pandemic. The increased demand for treatment exacerbated a shortage of available mental-health services. This has left desperate families pouring into emergency departments that legally can turn no one away. The influx of young mental-health patients is overcrowding emergency departments and delaying treatment across the country at both specialized children’s hospitals and general hospitals. Major pediatric and emergency medicine organizations issued a public warning to hospitals and doctors in August, stating that the lack of space and available staff is forcing children who need psychiatric care to wait too long in E.R.s.
Read the full article: Children in Mental-Health Crisis Surge into Hospital E.R.s //
Source: https://www.wsj.com/health/healthcare/children-mental-health-hospitals-treatment-cfb6c797