what is confusing to me is that there are usually private psychiatric hospitals and this family certainly had the money...I believe the ER screwed up big time on this one.
Mental illness is one of the most difficult situations to deal with and there are rarely perfect outcomes even as there are rarely tragedies such as these. From a health care perspective it’s not easy and I have seen private facilities refuse patients who have any history of violence because they are too difficult to deal with. State hospitals are more equipped from a personnel (and liability) standpoint to deal with problem patients. From a law enforcement perspective there are no easy ways to handle the mentally ill outside of taking them into protective custody and hoping for the best when they get to a hospital. From a family perspective it’s a nightmare.
There are no easy answers. Families used to take care of family members with mental illness, but that is no longer as common (or easy) in today’s world that often overstimulates people with mental illness, overmedicates them changing their brain chemistry, offers endless amounts of other substances and things to abuse, and occurs in a world where we are indoctrinated to let “professionals” deal with the problem.