Mental patients stuck in emergency rooms for days

From the Charlotte Observer :

Across North Carolina, mental patients are routinely languishing for days in emergency rooms ill-equipped to care for them, waiting for a bed to open at one of four state-run psychiatric hospitals.

Often, they pass the time handcuffed or sedated. Law-enforcement officers assigned to guard patients at community medical centers such as Grace Hospital in Morganton have occasionally resorted to using Tasers to shock them into submission.