Actually, they're very understaffed and underfunded (or at least they were, at the time). Their psych ward was so bad that they had people sleeping in the hallways without seeing a doctor for days.
I was recently in a hospital in Ft. Lauderdale (well, Hollywood) and you're totally right - tons of support, lots of social workers, etc. I think it really depends on the state, and as someone stated earlier, things are done differently in that neck of the woods (Louisiana). At least pre-Katrina, the state and esp. New Orleans were extremely corrupt. The FBI busted NOPD drug rings about every 6 months. And I knew a fair amount of people in NOPD that ran all kinds of illegal shit, from prostitution to murder for hire. Crazee
