A FATAL SHOVE ... AND THE MISUSE OF OUR LEGAL SYSTEM
February 6, 2022
To the editor:
The tragic death of Ms Ho at the hands of a severely ill untreated mentally ill man once again sheds a spotlight on the misuse of our legal system , the wrong milieu , to intervene for such illness. It was always the plan to replace deinstitutionalization with community based care for such persons. Each fresh tragedy highlights our failure to do so. We have tools — Kendra’s Law, mobile crisis teams, injectables that do not rely on medication access and compliance, and many dedicated interdisciplinary teams of professionals with extraordinary skills to engage such challenging dangerous clients . Two other ingredients are missing : (1) the recognition that some individuals are too ill to ever live outside of a sanctuary asylum type environment. (2) Stigma— for cancer and cardiac disease we apply science and compassion. For the severely mentally ill we rely on an inappropriate legal system and a patchwork of interventions. Then a tragedy, then a review of what we know, and then the lack of will to fix it. Perhaps we can honor the wrenching loss of Ms Go with a new law in her name that demands integrated care.
Sue Matorin MS ACSWNY NY