Judge Wary of 20 Beds for Mental Cases : Health: Judge Laura P. Hammes is concerned that state’s offer, the timing of which she finds ‘curious,’ will be used to manipulate the county budget to take funds from San Diego’s public psychiatric hospital.

A San Diego County Superior Court judge said Thursday she was pleased but suspicious to hear that 20 state mental hospital beds had been made available “overnight” to the county, as long as the county can locate about $800,000 to pay for them.

Judge Laura P. Hammes said she was concerned that the 20 state beds, though badly needed, would be used to “manipulate” the county budget and to take another swipe at San Diego’s public psychiatric hospital--a facility whose funding had been slashed by $3.7 million until Wednesday, when the County Board of Supervisors voted to temporarily restore it.

“My guess is there’s going to be an attempt to say, ‘Gosh, it’s all taken care of now. Board, you really didn’t have to go and take extreme measures and keep the county psychiatric hospital open because there are now 20 (state) beds available, and that’s all we really needed,’ ” said Hammes, who did not specify which county administrator she guessed would make such a speech.

“I am very concerned, and I want it clear on the record that, if the county takes the position that this $800,000 can be spent (on state beds) and then turns around and has the $3.7 million ripped away from the hospital, that is not an appropriate response.”

Hammes’ comments came at a hearing to decide the fate of Randall Gonzalez, a 23-year-old Poway man who suffers from schizophrenia. Last month, Hammes was outraged to learn that, a few hours after she sent Gonzalez to the county mental hospital for treatment, he was given two bus tokens and an injection of an anti-schizophrenic drug and then released.

This week, she said she planned to order the state’s top mental health official to place Gonzalez and 13 other county patients in state mental institutions or be held in contempt. On Thursday, when told of the availability of 20 state beds, Hammes said she would still sign the order, but would not threaten the state mental health director with contempt.

Repeatedly, the judge said she found the timing of the state’s offer “curious”--particularly in light of the fact that the county’s previous requests for more state beds had been denied. When told that the $806,000 price tag was relatively cheap for 20 beds for eight months, Hammes said:

“So, this is a bargain. Not only do we suddenly overnight have 20 beds at a state hospital, but we did it at a bargain rate. Why? I’m dying to find out. . . . I am very concerned that this sudden appearance of 20 beds, to boot cheap ones, is going to be looked at as a panacea. And it is not a panacea for what is going on.”

San Diego County has long chafed under what officials say is an inequitable distribution of state hospital beds for long-term patients. Los Angeles County has access to 1,080 beds, or 12 per 100,000 population. By contrast, only 71 beds are reserved for San Diego County patients--fewer than three beds per 100,000 residents.

If the county can find a way to pay for the 20 additional state beds, said Areta Crowell, the county mental health director, that would go a long way to relieve the burden on the county psychiatric facility, whose short-term beds are often filled by long-term patients awaiting a state placement.

But Crowell said she has “no idea” where the $806,000 would come from.

Deputy County Counsel R. Mark Beesley, who appeared on behalf of the county conservator, said that before the Board of Supervisors restored the hospital’s funding Wednesday, he had hoped to pay for the 20 beds with some of the $3.7 million that had been cut from the hospital budget. Now that that money has been reappropriated to the hospital, he said, he had not yet identified another funding source.

Beesley told Hammes he does not believe it necessary for her to sign an order, and when she asked him to draft one for her, he said it would be “moot.”

“We realize that, in the best of all situations, we would have plenty of money to give everybody the type of treatment that they need,” he said. “But funds are limited, the county is in a financial crisis right now. . . . “

“Who are you representing?” Hammes interrupted sharply. “Are you representing the public conservator who represents the best interests of these patients? You sound like you’re representing the county!”

Hammes said she was reluctant to back down, given the gravity of the crisis in mental health.

“My fear is if we go away . . . what’s going to happen the next time we have a Randall Gonzalez?” she asked.