Comments: A Correction To A Correction
Good correction to your correction, Philip. LOL This is such a difficult story to pursue. I so appreciate your leadership. Who among us, mentally ill or normal, is going to become violent in the future? Are we able to predict such behavior with any degree of accuracy? In the recent tragic case of Michael Kennedy in Fairfax, Virginia, no one--not Michael's family, his therapist, his friends, former teachers and coaches, multiple experts who evaluated him, the police, judges--raised the red flag that Michael was a potential killer let alone a "cop killer."
Were the Fairfax murders a preventable tragedy? Perhaps, but I think Treatment Advocacy Center is demonizing the wrong poster boy for forced commitment. Michael Kennedy's case reveals that even for a middle class family with insurance living in one of the wealthiest counties (Fairfax) in the USA, psychiatric treatment is inadequate...and hard to come by.
Might this case be about managed care as mismanaged care? Check out this Infinite Mind broadcast titled: Managing Madness: http://www.lcmedia.com/mind9926.htm
Could the case also be about insurance parity? Why was there no bed for psychiatric care for Michael Kennedy in Virginia? Do mental health advocates need to join the folks with pitchforks and torches at Treatment Advocacy Center to demonize the mentally ill and push for forced commitment and forced treatment to get more resources devoted to psychiatric care?!!
Posted by Moira Wait at June 7, 2006 03:08 PM