dagblog - Comments for "Defunding mental health--stranding the rich and famous"

why nobody checked to see if

jollyroger — Sun, 24 Nov 2013 01:44:18 +0000

In reply to I don't understand why nobody

why nobody checked to see if there were beds in other facilities for that young man.

I believe this may become the focus of some concerted investigation, which is the flip side of the rich and powerful victimized by the system...they have ways of making the system pay,

I don't understand why nobody

Ramona — Sat, 23 Nov 2013 16:20:31 +0000

In reply to Acid presents interesting

I don't understand why nobody checked to see if there were beds in other facilities for that young man. I've been through this more than a few times, what with the crazy gene my father (who didn't have it) passed along to members of my family, and, other than that long ago experience with my brother, I've always found that the staff will work endlessly to find beds when they're needed. And it wasn't money or even good insurance that did it--I know for a fact what massive medical bills can do to a family.

But, as you've said, if even the ones with endless resources can't get some relief, where does that leave the majority who just slog along, trying to get the system to work for them? Health care, whether it's physical or mental, is an absolute disgrace in this country.

Acid presents interesting

jollyroger — Sat, 23 Nov 2013 14:10:20 +0000

In reply to Mental health has always been

Acid presents interesting challenges--one time I took a few hits plus some psylocibin...for a while I couldn't remember my name, but it didn't bother me cause I figured I'd remember by the time I needed to tell anyone my what my name was.

Nonetheless, I can see where a person might find that disorienting.

In the Deeds case, it seems like the son had already gotten past the point where he was independently signing in or out--but the bureaucratic idiocy you reference seems to have played a role in this tragedy, as the subsequent reports indicate that there were available beds (odd concept, incidentally, since a person might be far safer sitting in a chair under ubservation than set loose to commit atrocities)

Mental health has always been

Ramona — Sat, 23 Nov 2013 13:26:30 +0000

In reply to I fear that some of the

Mental health has always been left behind, with those horror stories surfacing much too often about the person who should have gotten care but didn't.

In the late 1960s my brother tripped on LSD with long lasting effects. He hadn't slept in days and announced that he was on his way to the Isle of Wight to be with the Beatles. They were enlightened by then, having gone up on the mountain and he needed their help. He was seeing the devil on the TV and the devil was telling him to kill his mother.

Long story short, I had to stage a sit-in at the psychiatric hospital in order to get him a bed. Why? Because that hospital broke their units up into geographic areas and his particular unit was full. There were empty beds in other units but they said they couldn't put him in one of them since he lived in that other area.

I thought that was pretty crazy so I forced the issue and they relented for just that one night. Then he was out and we started all over again. I finally found a place for him but he conned them into thinking he was doing better and after three days they released him.

The problem so often is that unless they demonstrate that they're a danger to themselves or others, they can check themselves out. If they're sane enough they know to keep cool and not demonstrate the things that would keep them inside those walls. So there they are, wandering around alone, or in the care of their families, who are terrified and waiting for the inevitable day that all hell breaks loose again.

But since it's not a top priority nothing is done. It goes on and on.

Follow Creigh

jollyroger — Fri, 22 Nov 2013 16:57:00 +0000

In reply to Defunding mental health--stranding the rich and famous

‏@CreighDeeds

I am alive so must live. Some wounds won't heal. Your prayers and your friendship are important to me

?Generally our feeling is

jollyroger — Fri, 22 Nov 2013 14:42:44 +0000

In reply to The clarified story is even

“Generally our feeling is that if a family with resources and know-how has difficulty accessing and navigating the mental-health system, it speaks volumes about what happens to people who don’t have resources,” she said.

(Mira Signer, executive director of the Virginia chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness,)

The clarified story is even

jollyroger — Fri, 22 Nov 2013 14:36:07 +0000

In reply to I fear that some of the

The clarified story is even more bizarre--here is a former gubernatorial candidate who cannot even muster a balls-to-the-wall intervention to save his son...

I fear that some of the

jollyroger — Fri, 22 Nov 2013 14:33:56 +0000

In reply to Yeah we had a state senator

I fear that some of the salient details have escaped partner DD's attention.

I was perhaps remiss in not emphasizing the suicide component of this tragedy, although I confess that I thought that by now the story was widespread.

Also, sequestration had nothing to do with the bugetary constraints at the root of the shortage of beds--this was a purely statewide issue

Moreover, subsequent investigation seems to indicate that beds were available but undiscovered by whatever survey preceded the release of the unfotunate youth.

Yeah we had a state senator

Verified Atheist — Fri, 22 Nov 2013 14:17:22 +0000

In reply to Yeah we had a state senator

Yeah we had a state senator in Virginia whose son evidently stabbed him several times and he was forced to shoot the poor lad.

My understanding is that the poor lad shot himself. From the Richmond Times-Dispatch:

State Sen. Creigh Deeds was stabbed multiple times early today at his Bath County home and his son, Gus, is dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Yeah we had a state senator

Richard Day — Fri, 22 Nov 2013 06:29:39 +0000

In reply to Defunding mental health--stranding the rich and famous

Yeah we had a state senator in Virginia whose son evidently stabbed him several times and he was forced to shoot the poor lad.

His son had been denied a bed in a mental health unit due to sequestration?

Then I read this crap at Salon? where FOX News was making fun of homeless people?

And Zimmerman still has his guns?

Supposedly we as citizens can get our brains around polio and HIV and a number of diseases and such; but damn, if a guy is sitting in the street talking to himself and holding a pie pan; any idiot can tell there is something wrong.

Oh sure, sometimes it's an SNL sketch, but damn....there is something happening here and we have no clue what it is!