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LAS VEGAS (AP) — A federal judge has declined to reconsider a lawsuit alleging that officials at Rawson-Neal Psychiatric Hospital in Las Vegas violated a patient's civil rights by giving him a bus ticket to California upon discharge.
U.S. District Court Judge James Mahan issued the order Friday, saying it was correct to dismiss claims filed last June on behalf of James Flavy Coy Brown. State health officials said they were pleased with the order.
The suit sought damages for Brown and asked the judge to issue an order to stop Nevada from sending psychiatric patients out-of-state.
Brown's lawyer, Allen Lichtenstein of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, said he plans to appeal.
He said he disagrees that patients showing symptoms of serious mental illness can give informed consent to such bus trips.
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