Posted on 05/07/2007 10:00:46 AM PDT by neverdem
Student was deemed dangerously mentally ill 2 years before Va. rampage
Seung Hui Cho never received the treatment ordered by a judge who declared him dangerously mentally ill less than two years before his rampage at Virginia Tech, law enforcement officials said, exposing flaws in Virginia's labyrinthine mental health system, including confusion about the law, spotty enforcement and inadequate funding.
Neither the court, the university nor community services officials followed up on the judge's order, according to dozens of interviews. Cho never got the treatment, according to authorities who have seen his medical files. And although state law says the community services board should have made sure Cho got help, a board official said that was "news to us."
It is impossible to know if the treatment, ordered in December 2005, would have prevented the massacre last month, which left 32 students and faculty dead before Cho killed himself. But interviews with state and university officials, lawmakers, special justices, attorneys, advocates and mental health agencies across the state made clear that what happened with Cho is not unusual in cases of "involuntary outpatient commitment" — Virginia's name for the kind of order issued by Cho's judge.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
So, how come Cho isn’t responsible to go to therapy?
I don’t think treatment could have prevented this. They could have locked him up. That would have prevented this.
Virginia's Mental Health treatment system is sick.
Physicians heal thyselves.
It's the Eyebrow's Fault!
It’s always something!
This is a catch-22 for many freepers.
If they involuntarily commit people many will feel like it is gov’t overstepping it’s bounds.
If they declare him mentally incompetent and enter the information in NCIC than Cho would have been denied an over the counter gun sale which would upset many here.
They did nothing to follow up on the situation and that will upset many people.
Damned if they do and damned if they don’t.
FTR- I don’t think the outcome would have been changed no matter what they did. He would have still bought guns if he was determined to do so. We will never know for sure!
Based on my experience in law enforcement it’s fair to say the mental health system shares the same flaws of all gov’t systems.
You've misplaced the blame.
The MH system doesn't know of Cho's existence until he shows up for his evaluation. It's the responsibility of the court to see to it that he shows up for his MH evaluation. The MH system has no power to go out and seek Cho, only the court does, and the MH is not informed by the court that somebody may someday show up at the clinic.
You've misplaced the blame.
The sarcasm (and misplaced blame) wasn't obvious enough?
What is wrong is that we cannot grasp the concept of evil. We want to blame everything else
How is Cho reported to have been in possession of presumably, prescribed antidepressants, according to the NY Times story? This story just leaves more questions, IMHO.
BTW, cognitive behavioral therapy, the most common therapy in current use, implies a rational patient. IIRC, The judge described Cho as a danger to himself. I don't know why the judge thought outpatient treatment would be sufficient.
I need more coffee.
If the media would simply stop giving these guys notariety, that would eliminate the motive for a lot of these incidents.
It often comes down to money. Inpatient treatment is expensive so money is often a primary concern when prescribing treatment for the mentally ill.
I saw this firsthand as a police officer. You could get a doctor to commit them at the E.R. but if the mental health worker committed them it was often just for a few days until they could set up “voluntary” appointments for outpatient treatment.
The safety of the public comes after budget constraints in my experience.
I agree but that will not change anytime soon. The media seems obsessed with not only telling us the story but they even assign blame immediately after the event.
Fox news had reporters calling for the heads of the university President and police chief immediately after the story broke. It was absurd! They wanted to know why a huge college campus with 20,000 people going and coming was not locked down as if it were an elementary school or something.
The media is a big part of the problem today. They need to do more reporting and a little less analysis disguised as reporting.
Well, actually, they’re right to want the heads of the uni’s president and police chief - not for their handling of the incident, but for their stubborn and vehement resistance to last year’s CCW-on-campus bill.
“Virginia Tech spokesman Larry Hincker was happy to hear the bill was defeated. ‘I’m sure the university community is appreciative of the General Assembly’s actions because this will help parents, students, faculty and visitors feel safe on our campus.’”
The university, and the administration thereof, rightfully deserve to be sued nine ways to Sunday, and the administrators and faculty who opposed the bill should be fired.
Right. "Deported" illegals never get thrown out of the country; dangerous sex predators roam freely because their records are not shared with other states. I.e.: that monster who killed the family in Coeur d'Alene Idaho and kidnapped the kids. And terrorists slip through surveillance all over the place.
So what's the solution?
The reason they are fixated with assessing the blame is that they know full well that they are as much or more to blame than anyone else because of the publicity they give these nuts. They begin blaming others because they want to distract attention from their own complicity.
It was interesting though that I saw Brian Williams on NBC after they released the video this guy made. It was probably the first time I’ve watched NBC in 15 years.
He actually seemed embarrassed by the fact that the media was playing into this guy’s hands by airing the video, which surprised me. But not embarrassed enough to withhold it.
What do you imagine this has to do with physicians?
“Involuntary” and “outpatient” are mutually exclusive concepts when it comes to mental health treatment.
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