UW’s new mental health hospital can’t fill its beds
Seattle Now
KUOW News and Information
2.4 • 613 Ratings
🗓️ 27 January 2025
⏱️ 13 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The University of Washington opened a behavioral health hospital last May, with a price tag of almost 250 million dollars.
It was built for the long-term care of patients who’ve been involuntarily committed due to struggles with mental health, and expectations for the hospital were high.
But a shortage of public defense attorneys has kept the 150 beds mostly empty. And the patients the hospital is hoping to take in are often being sent back home.
Seattle Times mental health reporter Jayati Ramakrishnan explains why.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | These days, there's so much news. |
| 0:01.8 | It can be hard to keep up with what it all means for you, your family, and your community. |
| 0:06.4 | The Consider This Podcast from NPR features our award-winning journalism. |
| 0:10.7 | Six days a week, we bring you a deep dive on a news story and provide the context and analysis that helps you make sense of the news. |
| 0:17.5 | We get behind the headlines. |
| 0:19.4 | We get to the truth. |
| 0:22.3 | Listen to the Consider This podcast from NPR. |
| 0:29.8 | Hey, good morning. It's Patricia Murphy. It's Monday. This is Seattle now. A behavioral health |
| 0:36.4 | hospital at the University of Washington has had to stop accepting patients. |
| 0:41.0 | The eight-month-old facility was intended to care for long-term patients who've been involuntarily committed, |
| 0:46.6 | but the beds are mostly empty. |
| 0:48.7 | We'll explore why in a minute with Seattle Times reporter J.ithi Ramakrachshin. |
| 0:53.1 | But first, let's get you caught up. |
| 0:59.0 | The Seattle City Council today will appoint a new member to represent District 2. The South |
| 1:04.2 | Seattle seat is vacant following the resignation of Tammy Morales earlier this month, who cited |
| 1:09.6 | a toxic work environment. |
| 1:11.9 | Whoever's appointed will serve for much of 2025 until voters select a permanent council member in November. |
| 1:17.7 | Today's meeting is at 9.30. |
| 1:20.2 | The group that oversees high school sports in Washington State will discuss possible changes to their handbook today. |
| 1:25.6 | One proposal would restrict participation in |
| 1:28.5 | girls' sports to students assigned female at birth. Another would create a co-ed division that |
| 1:34.2 | transgender students could participate in. WIAA members will finalize the language of each proposal |
... |
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