Posted on 12/19/2012 3:58:13 AM PST by No One Special
MARSEILLES, France (Reuters) - A French psychiatrist whose patient hacked an elderly man to death was found guilty of manslaughter on Tuesday in a groundbreaking case that could affect the way patients are treated.
A court in Marseilles said Daniele Canarelli, 58, had committed a "grave error" by failing to recognize the public danger posed by Joel Gaillard, her patient of four years.
Gaillard hacked to death 80-year-old Germain Trabuc with an axe in March 2004 in Gap, in the Alps region of southeastern France, 20 days after fleeing a consultation with Canarelli at Marseilles's Edouard Toulouse hospital.
Canarelli was handed a one-year prison sentence and ordered to pay 8,500 euros to the victim's children, in the first case of its kind in France. Defense lawyers said the ruling would have serious repercussions for treatment of the mentally ill.
(Excerpt) Read more at ca.news.yahoo.com ...
If this idea comes to the USA you’ll have people being locked up for playing video games that depict violent scenes, for saying “violent words,” for having “too much” interest in guns.
The American psyche has always had a hard time understanding the meaning of “moderation.”
LLS
The U.S. prison system is filled with these people. One rationale for closing mental institutions was the revolution in neuro “wonder drugs” of the ‘70’s and ‘80’s. These medications enable many mental health patients to function in society. The problem is if the patient isn't monitored closely he may fail to take his meds and then drop off the radar.
At the same time lawyers and judges have made it near impossible to force at risk patients into involuntary custody and treatment. Where I live a doctor must swear before a judge that the patient is an immediate threat to himself or others before he can be forcibly confined. Then the patient can turn around and sue the doctor.
As a result of all this people with serious mental or emotional disorders just stumble along until they commit some serious crimes and go to prison where they finally get some treatment.
It is how socialism works,you find innocent people who where at the wrong placer and at the wrong time and you lock them up.It keeps the rest of the population on their toes.
If they’re looking to lockup anyone who goes to a psychiatrist to get mental counseling,which is not a crime as that person is admitting they need mental help then they are making a grave mistake.People aren’t going to look to get help if it means they can loss everything.
There are people who actually believe that scientific advances can be made by protesting in the street. I saw some group recently patting themselves on the back for all the advances in HIV research and treatment--which they had achieved by protesting outside the White House. I think it is people like that, who think that science and magic are indistinguishable, who send scientists to prison for failing to predict the unpredictable. Or who send doctors to prison for failing to control patients who are resisting treatment.
In a happier time I laughed out loud when reading about a “scientist” named Lysenko in the Soviet Union. His theory was that acquired characteristics could be heritable. He went far in the party cuz they liked his theory, something about producing a new Soviet man who would give according to his abilities, or something.
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