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San Francisco OKs Patient-Dumping Lawsuit Settlement

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — San Francisco supervisors have accepted a $400,000 payment from Nevada to settle allegations that psychiatric patients were wrongly shipped to California upon discharge.

The Board of Supervisors Tuesday approved the settlement without comment.

San Francisco sued Nevada in September 2013 after the Sacramento Bee published accounts of patients who were discharged from a psychiatric hospital in Las Vegas, and given bus tickets to California cities for further care.

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San Francisco's city attorney said 24 people with no prior connection to the city had been bused here over a five-year period, and 20 needed medical care shortly after they arrived.

After the newspaper's investigation, Nevada health officials said they improved policies to better care for discharged patients at their destination.

The settlement requires a second board vote, which is expected.