CONCORD, N.H. — A psychiatric patient with a criminal history escaped from New Hampshire Hospital for the third time in nine months. The incident comes only weeks after the state received a notice from the U.S. Department of Justice on its lack of community health care for the mentally ill, which has increased admissions to New Hampshire Hospital by 104 percent.
Lawrence Eldridge was involuntarily committed to the facility in the spring of 2010 when a judge deemed him unfit to stand trial, The Nashua Telegraph reports. Eldridge’s ex-wife had accused him of holding their children at gunpoint.
Last week, Gov. John Lynch ordered a review of the hospital’s policies when it came to his attention that Eldridge, despite his violent history, has privileges to leave hospital grounds.
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