Families should be able to do more to have a family member hospitalized or something.
Two cases near me in the last couple of years where families had unsuccessfully tried to have their sons involuntarily hospitalized. One killed a neighbor with a hammer and cut her head off because she was “emanating rays” at him. The other eviscerated his own mother because the demons were inside her.
It is possible to have someone committed on a 72 hour psych hold (A 5150). I had to do it twice on a roommate.
Sounds to me like that guy needed an exorcism more than a mental hospital. In fact, lots of them need exorcisms.
How awful. Sadly, there is little families can do.
I have a half sister who took care of her dying father. After he died, she went into a deep depression - not bathing, not leaving her room, not talking, etc. My elderly mother (with whom she lived) couldn’t get her to get help. At one point my mother called the police, my mother hoped at least for a 72 hour hospital stay. No such luck. My college-educated sister was articulate, calm, non-threatening, and the police left. I guess it was fortunate that she was too depressed to be violent, but it took almost another year for her to get help and medication.
I don’t know this young man’s mental issues, but people can’t really blame the parents when the police and social services won’t do anything if the person isn’t an immediate danger to himself or others. Then this stuff happens and people want to try an affix blame, but you can’t. The kid was sick and we live in a free society that let’s these people make medical decisions for themselves. It doesn’t always work out.