System Stretched Beyond Its Limits Unable To Provide Protection To Relatives Of Mentally Ill
A six-month Sun Sentinel investigation determined that people with mental illness have killed or brutally assaulted at least 500 loved ones in Florida since 2000.
Sun Sentinel:
Dying For Help
Norman and Joan Scott hid the knives when their grown son came for dinner. They coped as best they could with his mental illness and wanted nothing more than for him to get better. They paid his insurance, covered his motel bills so he wouldn't be homeless and saw him through at least 23 hospitalizations. (O'Matz, Kestin and Maines, 12/15)
In other mental health news —
Stat:
Detention System Strains To Keep Up With Mentally Ill Immigrants
A yearlong STAT investigation, including a review of thousands of pages of court documents and federal government reports and dozens of interviews with immigration attorneys, former detainees, and mental health experts, found that the detention system often fails to protect vulnerable immigrants with psychiatric disorders. STAT found detainees with mental illness being held in solitary confinement against the advice of prison doctors. The investigation also found immigrants at clear risk of suicide being left alone with the means to make another attempt to end their lives. Others, who were mentally and physically unable to care for themselves, were abruptly released in the US or deposited across the border, without any support network. (Siegelbaum, 12/16)