Western State Hospital

SEATTLE (AP) — Washington state's largest psychiatric hospital is under a "critical safety situation" after inspectors discovered problems with the sprawling facility's fire response system. To ensure that Western State Hospital patients are safe state officials have implemented a "fire watch" program that involves staff looking for "evidence of smoke and fire in all areas

SEATTLE (AP) — Washington Governor Jay Inslee said he's encouraged by the changes that have been made to ensure the state's largest psychiatric hospital is safer for both patients and staff. After touring Western State Hospital on Tuesday, he said increases in staffing have benefited patients and he hopes to get the budget resources to keep that work going...

EVERETT (AP) — Prosecutors have filed another murder charge against a man who broke out of Washington state's largest mental hospital last year after an initial murder charge was dropped when doctors determined he was too mentally ill to stand trial...

SEATTLE (AP) — A patient at Washington state's largest psychiatric hospital has tested positive for Legionnaires' disease. The patient had recently been transported from Western State Hospital to a local hospital in Lakewood with symptoms of pneumonia, and tested positive for the disease...

SEATTLE (AP) — Washington state's largest psychiatric hospital has revised its policies for notifying the police when a patient goes missing or escapes from the facility. Thursday's announcement comes after the release of a scathing report from a corrections team that reviewed Western State Hospital's handling of the April escape of two violent patients. ...

TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — A Pierce County court commissioner has ordered the state to appoint a "special master" to oversee changes in admissions policies at Western State Hospital. Commissioner Craig Adams' ruling also calls for the state to adopt a goal of ending "psychiatric boarding" within six months...

SEATTLE (AP) — A Pierce County court commissioner has put on hold a contempt order that would have sent the CEO of Washington state's largest psychiatric hospital to jail for failing to hospitalize a patient. Kathy Spears, a spokeswoman for the agency that oversees Western State Hospital, said Commissioner Craig Adams has stayed the order that would have put CEO Cheryl Strange behind bars... Read

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — A Pierce County court commissioner has issued a one-week delay of an order that could result in the new head of Western State Hospital being jailed. Commissioner Craig Adams last week found Cheryl Strange, the psychiatric hospital's CEO, in contempt of court, and demanded that she either admit a patient — as previously ordered — or report to jail by noon Wednesday... Read Mor

SEATTLE (AP) — Police say a patient who was with a group being escorted by staff at Washington's largest psychiatric hospital escaped for a period of time on Monday. Lakewood Police Lt. Chris Lawlor says the patient went missing from Western State Hospital at about 1:45 p...

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — Federal regulators have agreed to negotiate an agreement with the Washington state agency that oversees the troubled Western State Hospital to avoid the loss of federal funds. The agreement will protect patients while giving the psychiatric hospital time to fix problems that led to multiple violation notices...