Summarized by Rosemary Pollock
Violent crimes raise idea of forced treatment for mentally ill
(Long Island) NY Newsday (AP) 22May99 L1
Violent crimes raise idea of forced treatment for mentally ill
NEW YORK -- Court-ordered outpatient commmitment is the law in nearly 35 states
and will soon be considered by New York to be the rule and not the
exception. A mandatory treatment bill could force mentally ill patients
to take drugs needed to manage manic depression and personality
disorders such as schizophrenia. Opponents say court-ordered treatment
is short-sighted and at worst a violation of civil liberties. Others
argue that forcing people into treatment could keep them from hurting
others.
Kim Webdale, 34 is the sister of the woman who was pushed in front of
the subway in January. "I think this will not only make it safer for
society... I think it's a compassionate bill for the metally ill, " she
said. Believing her sister might still be alive if Andrew Goldstein, a
schizophrenic man who fatally pushed Kendra Webdale, 32, in front of a
subway, Webdale said, "There are a lot of things we can do in the
community to help people, but we have to get them medication so they can
participate."
Ira Burnim, legal director at the Judge David Bazelon Center for
Mental Health Law in Washington, D.C. feels people leaving mental
hospitals "are walking out into a void." "You're put on meds, you're
doing fine, but there's no services available for you once you walk out
the door."
With a recent study showing that fewer than half of the 2 million
Americans who suffer with schizophrenia, Fred Frese, a Case Western
Reserve University psychologist argues for the bill. He was forcibly
hospitalized for schizophrenia and doesn't care to think of what would
have happened if he had not gotten help. "I probably would not be
here," he said. "When you go protecting someone's right to not be
treated, and within a short time, they go and commit suicide or have
some kind of serious accident, you're not being responsible."
Advocates, psychiatarists and the mentally ill are divided over the
New York proposals. Robin Simon, 42, an ex-mental patient who now works
as a mental health counselor has vivid memories of the horrors of being
confined to straitjackes and padded rooms while being forced to accept
drugs. "It gives me a sick feeling in my stomach to think that some
people could go through what I went through, or even worse," she says.
"You're taking away their voice to say, 'No, I don't want to have
this.'"
Those who opppose out patient commitment " should live in my shoes,"
says Jay Oliver Sax. He is a 53-year-old who has recovered from
schizophrenia and depression and is grateful for the authorities who
forced him into treatment. "I was hanging around in Penn Station....
licking the floor, literally, at 4 o'clock in the morning," he recalls.
"I was ill." "I know if I'm in that kind of position I would require
that kind of help. Some people need it."
With a series of horrifying crimes in recent history, the emotional
debate continues. Two police officers killed at the U.S. Capitol, a
fatal shooting spree at the Mormon church's genealogical library in Salt
Lake City, and a New York woman who was pushed in front of a subway
train are only a few of the many crimes that have been commited by
mentally ill people.
Court orders can be hard to enforce with states varying in how to
force patients to comply. Proponnents see court orders as a tool that
could enable families and doctors to help patients whose illness clouds
their judgement.
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