BUTTE, Mont. — Jennifer Mitchell remembered getting a call nearly two years ago that her 69-year-old husband, Bill, had crashed his car and had been committed to the Montana State Hospital, the state-run psychiatric hospital for adults about 20 miles from their home in Butte.
Physicians thought Bill Mitchell had dementia and could be a danger to himself or others, according to medical records. But once he was admitted, his wife really began to worry. She couldn’t visit him because of COVID-19 restrictions, and she couldn’t get details about the care or the medicine he was receiving.
“I tried to get an idea of what he was taking, not taking. I could not get answers,” Jennifer said.
