Police put ex-con on bus before passenger stabbed
Mike McIntyre , Winnipeg Free Press
Published: Monday, September 22, 2008
WINNIPEG - Police in Ontario admit they put an apparently mentally troubled ex-convict on a Winnipeg-bound Greyhound bus Sunday afternoon - but don't know how he managed to sneak a knife on board that was later used to stab a sleeping passenger.
Monday's revelation has sparked multiple investigations and left critics howling in protest, saying the case further underscores how dangerous public bus transportation is in Canada.
"It's absolutely astounding," said Winnipeg defence lawyer Jay Prober, who recently filed a lawsuit against the RCMP and Greyhound following the July murder and beheading of Winnipeg resident Tim McLean on board a Greyhound near Portage la Prairie.
"This latest incident is just a vindication of the lawsuit, not that we needed it. What's it going to take for Greyhound to do something to protect their passengers? Are they waiting for someone else to get killed?"
David Wayne Roberts, 28, of Manitouwadge, Ont., has been charged with aggravated assault and breach of probation. He will appear in a Sault Ste. Marie courtroom Tuesday morning.
The 20-year-old victim suffered non-life-threatening injuries after passengers say he was stabbed in the chest while sitting on the bus around 4:15 p.m. ET Sunday. He remains in hospital but is expected to be released later this week. His name and hometown haven't been released.
Winnipeg author Anita Daher was on the bus and witnessed the attack. She told the Free Press on Sunday night the attack was unprovoked and happened shortly after police brought the man on board.
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Showing posts with label mental illness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mental illness. Show all posts
Monday, September 22, 2008
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Mental illness stresses families
Mental illness stresses families
By David Riley/Daily News staff
GHS
Posted Sep 06, 2008 @ 11:27 PM
Editor's note: This is part 2 of a weekly series on the stigma of mental illness.
Mental illness cost Melissa almost everything she had, including custody of her 11-year-old daughter.
Living in and out of homeless shelters in Connecticut, she was ready to give up a year ago. It was her adult son who helped her find another chance at rebuilding her life in Massachusetts.
But not all of Melissa's family has been able or willing to maintain ties with her. Aside from a sister, Melissa said most of her relatives no longer speak to her.
Family, she said, also is where some of her struggles with depression and post-traumatic stress began.
"It's good to have a good upbringing," said Melissa, a client at Programs for People, a Framingham nonprofit that helps the mentally ill recover and succeed. "I didn't."
Melissa and three other clients at Programs for People spoke with the Daily News recently about their illnesses and recovery. They also discussed their firsthand experiences with misunderstanding, fear and suspicion of mental illness that they and others face in many aspects of their lives.
"I think the public, they don't understand mental illness, and they don't want to," Melissa said.
Melissa's story illustrates the complex role of family in mental illness. She believes her upbringing contributed to her disease, and family relationships have strained or broken during her battle. Yet it was also a son who helped point her toward recovery and a daughter who motivates her today.
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By David Riley/Daily News staff
GHS
Posted Sep 06, 2008 @ 11:27 PM
Editor's note: This is part 2 of a weekly series on the stigma of mental illness.
Mental illness cost Melissa almost everything she had, including custody of her 11-year-old daughter.
Living in and out of homeless shelters in Connecticut, she was ready to give up a year ago. It was her adult son who helped her find another chance at rebuilding her life in Massachusetts.
But not all of Melissa's family has been able or willing to maintain ties with her. Aside from a sister, Melissa said most of her relatives no longer speak to her.
Family, she said, also is where some of her struggles with depression and post-traumatic stress began.
"It's good to have a good upbringing," said Melissa, a client at Programs for People, a Framingham nonprofit that helps the mentally ill recover and succeed. "I didn't."
Melissa and three other clients at Programs for People spoke with the Daily News recently about their illnesses and recovery. They also discussed their firsthand experiences with misunderstanding, fear and suspicion of mental illness that they and others face in many aspects of their lives.
"I think the public, they don't understand mental illness, and they don't want to," Melissa said.
Melissa's story illustrates the complex role of family in mental illness. She believes her upbringing contributed to her disease, and family relationships have strained or broken during her battle. Yet it was also a son who helped point her toward recovery and a daughter who motivates her today.
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Monday, September 1, 2008
India:Kashmir, Conflict's Psychological Legacy
In Kashmir, Conflict's Psychological Legacy
Mental Health Cases Swell in Two Decades
By Emily Wax
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, September 1, 2008; Page A09
SRINAGAR, India
Suraya Qadeem's brother was one of the Kashmir Valley's brightest students. Handsome and disciplined, he had been accepted into a prestigious medical school in Mumbai. But just weeks before Tahir Hussain was to pack his bags, the 20-year-old was shot dead by Indian forces as he participated in a peaceful demonstration calling for Kashmir's independence.
At his funeral, Suraya Qadeem, also a medical student, wept so hard she thought she might stop breathing. Seventeen years later, she spends her days counseling patients in Indian-controlled Kashmir who have painfully similar stories.
In the sunny therapy rooms of a private mental hospital here in Kashmir's summer capital, Qadeem listens to young patients, nearly all of them children scarred by the region's two-decade-old conflict. Most suffer from depression, chronic post-traumatic stress disorder, drug addiction and suicidal tendencies in numbers that are shockingly high, especially compared with Western countries.
Srinagar, a scenic lakeside city nestled in the foothills of the Himalayas, once had among the lowest mental illness rates in the world. But in 1989, leaders of the region's Muslim majority launched an armed separatist movement, one of several said to have been backed by predominantly Muslim Pakistan, which has fought two wars with Hindu-majority India over Kashmir since India's partition in 1947. Srinagar became a battleground as hundreds of thousands of Indian troops quelled the uprising. The fighting has left a powerful psychological legacy.
The number of patients seeking mental health services surged at the state psychiatric hospital, from 1,700 when the unrest began to more than 100,000 now. Last year, they were treated at the hospital or the recently opened Advanced Institute of Stress and Life Style Problems, where Qadeem works.
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Mental Health Cases Swell in Two Decades
By Emily Wax
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, September 1, 2008; Page A09
SRINAGAR, India
Suraya Qadeem's brother was one of the Kashmir Valley's brightest students. Handsome and disciplined, he had been accepted into a prestigious medical school in Mumbai. But just weeks before Tahir Hussain was to pack his bags, the 20-year-old was shot dead by Indian forces as he participated in a peaceful demonstration calling for Kashmir's independence.
At his funeral, Suraya Qadeem, also a medical student, wept so hard she thought she might stop breathing. Seventeen years later, she spends her days counseling patients in Indian-controlled Kashmir who have painfully similar stories.
In the sunny therapy rooms of a private mental hospital here in Kashmir's summer capital, Qadeem listens to young patients, nearly all of them children scarred by the region's two-decade-old conflict. Most suffer from depression, chronic post-traumatic stress disorder, drug addiction and suicidal tendencies in numbers that are shockingly high, especially compared with Western countries.
Srinagar, a scenic lakeside city nestled in the foothills of the Himalayas, once had among the lowest mental illness rates in the world. But in 1989, leaders of the region's Muslim majority launched an armed separatist movement, one of several said to have been backed by predominantly Muslim Pakistan, which has fought two wars with Hindu-majority India over Kashmir since India's partition in 1947. Srinagar became a battleground as hundreds of thousands of Indian troops quelled the uprising. The fighting has left a powerful psychological legacy.
The number of patients seeking mental health services surged at the state psychiatric hospital, from 1,700 when the unrest began to more than 100,000 now. Last year, they were treated at the hospital or the recently opened Advanced Institute of Stress and Life Style Problems, where Qadeem works.
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Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Canada taking on stigma of mental illness
Many Canadians stigmatize mentally ill, poll finds
Updated Mon. Aug. 18 2008 11:02 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
Many Canadians hold negative attitudes towards people with mental health issues, says a new poll released Monday by the Canadian Medical Association.
The CMA says those attitudes have not changed in decades. The federal government has announced $75 million in funding to de-stigmatize mental health in Canada, but results could take years.
The poll, which was part of the CMA's 2008 National Report Card, showed 46 per cent of Canadians think people use the term "mental illness" as an excuse for bad behaviour.
One of four Canadians in the survey said they were scared to be around someone with a mental illness - something that doesn't surprise Tammy Lambert.
She has suffered from schizoaffective disorder for more than a decade. She writes poems about her delusions and says she often feels alone at school, fighting the fears of other people.
"I don't think that they mean to treat you differently, it's just something that happens," Lambert said. "It's like mental illness red flags people."
The poll also showed only 50 per cent of Canadians would tell a friend that a family member had a mental illness -- compared to 72 per cent who would talk about a cancer diagnosis.
"We need to do a major education effort aimed at the public because the stigma with mental illness is clearly, clearly out there," Dr. Brian Day, CMA's president, told CTV News.
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Updated Mon. Aug. 18 2008 11:02 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
Many Canadians hold negative attitudes towards people with mental health issues, says a new poll released Monday by the Canadian Medical Association.
The CMA says those attitudes have not changed in decades. The federal government has announced $75 million in funding to de-stigmatize mental health in Canada, but results could take years.
The poll, which was part of the CMA's 2008 National Report Card, showed 46 per cent of Canadians think people use the term "mental illness" as an excuse for bad behaviour.
One of four Canadians in the survey said they were scared to be around someone with a mental illness - something that doesn't surprise Tammy Lambert.
She has suffered from schizoaffective disorder for more than a decade. She writes poems about her delusions and says she often feels alone at school, fighting the fears of other people.
"I don't think that they mean to treat you differently, it's just something that happens," Lambert said. "It's like mental illness red flags people."
The poll also showed only 50 per cent of Canadians would tell a friend that a family member had a mental illness -- compared to 72 per cent who would talk about a cancer diagnosis.
"We need to do a major education effort aimed at the public because the stigma with mental illness is clearly, clearly out there," Dr. Brian Day, CMA's president, told CTV News.
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Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Artwork Helps Alter Perceptions Of Mental Illness
Artwork Helps Alter Perceptions Of Mental Illness
By GAIL BRACCIDIFERRO | Special To The Courant
August 6, 2008
Dylan Croft and Robin Fleming are veterans of the theater. As longtime performers in the Second Step Players, a 50-member theater troupe that aims to bust myths, break down barriers and educate the public about people with psychiatric illnesses, they are seldom shy about acting in front of an audience.
But ask them to create a piece of visual art and they might not be as eager to express themselves.
"The audience gives you energy," Croft said about being on stage. "It can be very uplifting."
The process of getting into character for a stage production helps her overcome stage fright, Fleming said. Creating a piece of visual art is more difficult because it is such a personal exercise.
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By GAIL BRACCIDIFERRO | Special To The Courant
August 6, 2008
Dylan Croft and Robin Fleming are veterans of the theater. As longtime performers in the Second Step Players, a 50-member theater troupe that aims to bust myths, break down barriers and educate the public about people with psychiatric illnesses, they are seldom shy about acting in front of an audience.
But ask them to create a piece of visual art and they might not be as eager to express themselves.
"The audience gives you energy," Croft said about being on stage. "It can be very uplifting."
The process of getting into character for a stage production helps her overcome stage fright, Fleming said. Creating a piece of visual art is more difficult because it is such a personal exercise.
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Sunday, August 3, 2008
“A quart of beer is cheaper than the medication they need, so they self-medicate.”
A quart of beer is cheaper than the medication they need, so they self-medicate,” he said.
That is part of the problem right there. If people, not just veterans, get the medications they need, they won't have to resort to finding their own way to "medicate" their condition with. When we see a "drunk" on the street, we just assume they are an alcoholic. While that is true in some cases, it is not true in all cases. Veterans with no history of alcoholism find they cannot make it through the day without reaching for beer or other alcohol to kill off feelings they don't want to feel. While they are fully aware there is something not right going on inside of them, they are unaware of what the "it" is. We've come a long way in reach out work attempting to make them all aware that sometimes the war comes home with them but we still have a long, long way to go until they all know what PTSD is.
Some of these veterans may have mild PTSD symptoms for now. They decide to just "deal" with it on their own. They are unaware that as they attempt to "deal with it" their own way, PTSD is eating away at them. When their life becomes out of control, often it's too late to stop the cycle. They lose jobs. Financial strains added onto strains on their relationships are further challenged because of drugs and alcohol. With no compensation from the VA for their condition and treatment to heal, their lost incomes and estranged families, they become homeless. While they may manage to find friends still willing to take them in, their welcome is worn out sooner or later and no one wants them around. They end up drinking more, trying to establish a thing to "blame" for how they ended up where they are. Instead of acknowledging the wound they carry and find the strength to fight to heal, they fight on the streets to stay alive becoming bitter, angry added onto being drunk.
The cycle does not end there. Sometimes they take their families with them. Even in their absence from the family unit the damage is being done on a daily basis. The spouse will drive down the street and see the person they thought they would spend the rest of their life with begging for spare change. A child will shrink away from talking about their parent no longer in the house and all too often trying to find ways to ease the anger they feel toward them. They will turn that anger inward wondering what is wrong with them that their own parent no longer "loved them enough to stop drinking" and they have to cope with the loss of income from the missing parent. It happens all the time.
When people with mental illness go untreated, it is not just them suffering. The entire community does. The problem is, too many communities are unwilling to deal with the problem and address it instead of just trying to keep the homeless people away from their neighborhood.
Coos Bay deserves a lot of credit for taking a good hard look at the problem as well as what they can do about it. KC
“Trying to pinpoint cause, solution to homelessness
By Alexander Rich, Staff Writer
Friday, August 01, 2008
COOS BAY — Determining the cause of homelessness can be somewhat like asking — which came first, the chicken or the egg?
Some argue it’s a lack of affordable housing and family-wage jobs. Others blame addiction, which makes landlords and employers leery of providing shelter or jobs to such people.
Some say the health-care system drives people into debt and then onto the streets. And others contend not enough has been done to provide veterans a way to return home and re-adjust to civilian life.
The simple answer is there is no one reason for homelessness here. And at a meeting Thursday night at Southwestern Oregon Community College, a gathering of concerned citizens brainstormed on ways to find people homes.
It was the first of three meetings scheduled to discuss homelessness in Coos County and ways it can be ended. The topic was homeless families, though it veered off into discussions of veteran issues and mental health concerns.
Facilitated by Crystal Shoji, the meeting gave participants a chance to share their understanding of problems homeless families face and programs could be put into place to resolve them.
The recurring theme was there is a lack of affordable housing and the increasing number of landlords who resist renting to tenants with poor rental, credit and criminal histories.
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Thursday, July 24, 2008
MA State Senate passes scaled-back 'mental health parity' bill
Mass Health Law
Senate passes scaled-back 'mental health parity' bill
Posted by Gideon Gil July 24, 2008 06:13 PM
By Kay Lazar, Globe Staff
Patients with autism, eating disorders, substance abuse problems or post traumatic stress disorder would have greater access to treatments under proposed legislation that passed the state Senate today.
The measure differs from a more sweeping version of the "mental health parity" bill that passed the House earlier. That proposal would require insurance plans to cover all mental health disorders the same as physical conditions and would allow any treatments that were medically needed.
Both the Senate and House versions would maintain the current law's requirement that health insurers provide full coverage for nine of the most common psychiatric conditions: schizophrenia; schizoaffective disorder, major depression; bipolar disorder; paranoia and other psychotic disorders; obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder; delirium and dementia; and affective disorders.
Massachusetts law now allows health insurers to limit treatments for dozens of other mental health diagnoses to 24 outpatient sessions and 60 days of hospitalization per year.
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Senate passes scaled-back 'mental health parity' bill
Posted by Gideon Gil July 24, 2008 06:13 PM
By Kay Lazar, Globe Staff
Patients with autism, eating disorders, substance abuse problems or post traumatic stress disorder would have greater access to treatments under proposed legislation that passed the state Senate today.
The measure differs from a more sweeping version of the "mental health parity" bill that passed the House earlier. That proposal would require insurance plans to cover all mental health disorders the same as physical conditions and would allow any treatments that were medically needed.
Both the Senate and House versions would maintain the current law's requirement that health insurers provide full coverage for nine of the most common psychiatric conditions: schizophrenia; schizoaffective disorder, major depression; bipolar disorder; paranoia and other psychotic disorders; obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder; delirium and dementia; and affective disorders.
Massachusetts law now allows health insurers to limit treatments for dozens of other mental health diagnoses to 24 outpatient sessions and 60 days of hospitalization per year.
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Monday, July 14, 2008
Stop telling PTSD vets they are suddenly worth less
Judge Robert Russell is a great example of the search for justice and the need to address the unique circumstances of the warriors we send. These men and women were willing to lay down their lives for this country. That alone should be obvious to everyone. If they are not treated with all the facts, including being wounded, that is not justice for them.
Lt. Col. Gordon Cucullu must have forgotten that the troops are still just humans and as susceptible to human illnesses of body and mind as much as the rest of us. Using them as some kind of political weapon only serves himself. Right off the bat, he blames the "left" instead of addressing the fact that since the beginning of time, the traumatic events in combat have changed warriors simply because they are human!
What is Cucullu saying? Is he saying that the veterans are all just criminal types who should be afforded no special treatment? Is he saying that they were criminal types to begin with? Then he's slamming the military in a lame attempt to slam the "left" and it's disgraceful. Isn't he aware of the fact the military is made up of Democrats, as well as Republicans and all other political affiliations?
This rant has appeared on too many sites for me to remain silent and not address the fact what the judicial system has begun to do is one of the greatest steps toward honoring the honorable wounded. Some judges in this country have opened their minds to the fact PTSD can, will and does cause some to commit crimes, not as criminals, but as wounded veterans, trying to get from day to day. Some do drugs instead of take medications to cope with everything happening inside of them. We saw this happen to Vietnam veterans when far too many of them landed in jail for self-medicating. This did not happen before Vietnam because drugs were not illegal before this time.
Next, the need to address the events caused by flashbacks must be faced with knowledge. To say that someone had intent to do something, when they had no clue who their target was at the moment is not justice. In a flashback, they are not here, but facing the enemy all over again. While we may see a civilian, they see a member of the enemy forces who were trying to kill them. Too many have been charged with assault when they had no clue what they were doing or who they were doing it to.
Cucullu apparently has no idea how PTSD envelops every aspect of a life, no matter if it was caused by combat, law enforcement work, crimes or even natural disasters. These type of court programs will go a long way in treating wounded people with justice, the need to protect the citizens measured with compassion. Otherwise, we dishonor the men and women who serve in combat and come home wounded by telling them they are suddenly worth less than when they were doing it.
They are trained to use weapons to kill. That's their job. What they have inside of them, giving them the desire to serve and the willingness to risk their lives, was something they were born with. It is something that is still inside of them when they no longer have to risk their lives going up against the "enemy" they are sent to fight. When they come home with the enemy inside of them, the person they were before is still there, but trapped behind the events of combat. Some can adjust easier than others. Some need help to do it. Some many never be able to heal enough. We have to stop treating wounded veterans like criminals and provide them with the honor they deserve. This rant by a Lieutenant Colonel trying to attack the people fighting for the honor the wounded deserve, has managed to prove he hasn't the slightest clue what PTSD is or what it does to the men and women serving this country. Do all PTSD wounded commit crimes? No, far too many of them commit suicide instead. I bet he's also of the mind-set they don't deserve a military funeral when they do.
Are there exceptions? Absolutely. Take the case of Lance Cpl. Briones.
It is yet one more case in support that justice has to take all things into consideration.
The need for more recruits has caused the military to waive standards. The true patriots, those willing to serve, are now mixed with those who are forced to serve or go to jail because of the crimes they committed in their civilian lives. Again, justice depends on looking at the whole history of the person. If they have never been in any trouble with the law before deployment into a combat zone, then that needs to be taken into account or it is not justice.
PTSD is not a one size fits all wound. It strikes a wide range of humans. The judges deciding the proper response to charges need to decide with all the evidence and all the facts. While there are some who served to avoid justice, in too many cases, justice avoids taking into consideration the wound when it is the only reason behind the act itself.
This is not a new idea. The need to treat people with special needs has been around for a long time. This is from 1999.
I had the pleasure of hearing Judge Speiser at the NAMI convention here in Florida. Whenever we talk about the need to take into consideration the mental state of the accused, we need to look honestly at the whole person.
These people are not given a "get out of jail free card" as some want to assume they are. They have court ordered treatment they must attend and if they do not, they do risk jail time. No one can force someone to get well and citizens need to be protected when they opt out. Yet when they do want to get better and are willing to do all they can to do it, they deserve all the support they can get.
So why should we treat veterans differently than others who are suffering? The veterans deserve to be treated fairly and honestly. This all grew out of the fact our jails are overcrowded because too many do not belong there. They should have been in treatment programs instead. Sending them to jail instead of treatment will only release them back into the public after they have done their time in the same mental state they were in before, yet again jeopardizing society needlessly. Sending them into treatment programs instead gives them the chance to recover from the illness and stop the revolving door of prison life. In the case of PTSD veterans, we owe them at least the same opportunity.
Senior Chaplain Kathie Costos
Namguardianangel@aol.com
http://www.namguardianangel.org/
http://www.woundedtimes.blogspot.com/
"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation." - George Washington
What appears to be emerging in this initiative is a move – at least from some quarters – to create a victim mentality toward veterans, to give the impression that they are so psychologically damaged by their experiences while in military service that they are incapable of readjustment to civilian life and are unable to cope with normal society.
Helping the Vets or Smearing the Service?
By Lt. Col. Gordon Cucullu
FrontPageMagazine.com Monday, July 14, 2008
When does “compassion” to veterans become an assault on the military they served? When the Left is involved.
A report from the Buffalo, NY, Courier-News highlighted an innovation in our legal system. Buffalo has established a special court to deal exclusively with veterans accused of crimes.
The presiding judge, Judge Robert Russell, takes a paternalistic approach to the defendants. “He will mete out justice with a disarming mix of small talk and life-altering advice,” the report said. Local statistics indicated that over the past year, 300 veterans have appeared in local courts. The judge therefore “tailor-made the treatment court to address not only vets’ crimes but their unique mental health issues.”
go here for more
http://frontpagemagazine.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=2E01119B
-458E-4C15-9DE4-AD7053540D8E
Lt. Col. Gordon Cucullu must have forgotten that the troops are still just humans and as susceptible to human illnesses of body and mind as much as the rest of us. Using them as some kind of political weapon only serves himself. Right off the bat, he blames the "left" instead of addressing the fact that since the beginning of time, the traumatic events in combat have changed warriors simply because they are human!
What is Cucullu saying? Is he saying that the veterans are all just criminal types who should be afforded no special treatment? Is he saying that they were criminal types to begin with? Then he's slamming the military in a lame attempt to slam the "left" and it's disgraceful. Isn't he aware of the fact the military is made up of Democrats, as well as Republicans and all other political affiliations?
This rant has appeared on too many sites for me to remain silent and not address the fact what the judicial system has begun to do is one of the greatest steps toward honoring the honorable wounded. Some judges in this country have opened their minds to the fact PTSD can, will and does cause some to commit crimes, not as criminals, but as wounded veterans, trying to get from day to day. Some do drugs instead of take medications to cope with everything happening inside of them. We saw this happen to Vietnam veterans when far too many of them landed in jail for self-medicating. This did not happen before Vietnam because drugs were not illegal before this time.
Next, the need to address the events caused by flashbacks must be faced with knowledge. To say that someone had intent to do something, when they had no clue who their target was at the moment is not justice. In a flashback, they are not here, but facing the enemy all over again. While we may see a civilian, they see a member of the enemy forces who were trying to kill them. Too many have been charged with assault when they had no clue what they were doing or who they were doing it to.
Cucullu apparently has no idea how PTSD envelops every aspect of a life, no matter if it was caused by combat, law enforcement work, crimes or even natural disasters. These type of court programs will go a long way in treating wounded people with justice, the need to protect the citizens measured with compassion. Otherwise, we dishonor the men and women who serve in combat and come home wounded by telling them they are suddenly worth less than when they were doing it.
They are trained to use weapons to kill. That's their job. What they have inside of them, giving them the desire to serve and the willingness to risk their lives, was something they were born with. It is something that is still inside of them when they no longer have to risk their lives going up against the "enemy" they are sent to fight. When they come home with the enemy inside of them, the person they were before is still there, but trapped behind the events of combat. Some can adjust easier than others. Some need help to do it. Some many never be able to heal enough. We have to stop treating wounded veterans like criminals and provide them with the honor they deserve. This rant by a Lieutenant Colonel trying to attack the people fighting for the honor the wounded deserve, has managed to prove he hasn't the slightest clue what PTSD is or what it does to the men and women serving this country. Do all PTSD wounded commit crimes? No, far too many of them commit suicide instead. I bet he's also of the mind-set they don't deserve a military funeral when they do.
Are there exceptions? Absolutely. Take the case of Lance Cpl. Briones.
Lance Cpl. Briones' criminal history in Kings County began long before he experienced the stress of a combat zone, and that criminal history is directly connected to his ending up in Iraq.
"He wasn't a person who I would classify as a real upstanding citizen, before or during the military," said Kings County Deputy District Attorney Adam Nelson.
Briones was arrested on felony drug charges on July 20, 2003, after Hanford police received complaints about intoxicated people at a convenience store. Officers found seven baggies in Briones' pockets that they reported contained marijuana and money, an indication he had been selling drugs, according to Nelson.
Briones was "very intoxicated," the police report says, and he "was out of control at the jail and had to be restrained several times to keep him from hurting himself or others."
Later, Nelson said, "his attorney contacted our office and said the guy wants to go into the military. At the time, we said that would probably be the best thing for him."
The office agreed to drop charges if Briones enlisted, but Nelson now believes that agreement was a mistake.
Shortly before he deployed to Iraq in 2005, Briones was charged with drunken driving in Orange County, not far from the Marine Corps' Camp Pendleton. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three years' informal probation.
It is yet one more case in support that justice has to take all things into consideration.
"The trauma of war is unfortunate, but justice for crime victims and the safety of the public must remain a paramount concern of the criminal justice system," Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wrote in his veto message.
The version signed by Schwarzenegger in September 2006 empowers California judges to bypass sentencing guidelines and choose between treatment or jail for veterans convicted of any crime.
go here for more of this
http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/1080273.html
The need for more recruits has caused the military to waive standards. The true patriots, those willing to serve, are now mixed with those who are forced to serve or go to jail because of the crimes they committed in their civilian lives. Again, justice depends on looking at the whole history of the person. If they have never been in any trouble with the law before deployment into a combat zone, then that needs to be taken into account or it is not justice.
PTSD is not a one size fits all wound. It strikes a wide range of humans. The judges deciding the proper response to charges need to decide with all the evidence and all the facts. While there are some who served to avoid justice, in too many cases, justice avoids taking into consideration the wound when it is the only reason behind the act itself.
This is not a new idea. The need to treat people with special needs has been around for a long time. This is from 1999.
Court for mentally ill offenders advocated
Judicial officials at seminar told treatment is lacking
BY RANDY McNUTT
The Cincinnati Enquirer
HAMILTON — Creating special mental health courts will help local governments better handle a growing number of disturbed people in the criminal justice system.
That was the point made by speakers at the Southwest Ohio Regional Forum on Mental Health Courts and the Mentally Ill Offender, held Tuesday at Miami University Hamilton.
About 250 people attended, including mental health workers and police officials.
“The response to this kind of program is an indication that I'm not the only one who has heard the cry: "Somebody help me,'” said Randy T. Rogers, presiding judge of Butler County's probate and drug courts.
Butler County is preparing its own mental health court, which officials hope eventually will become an outgrowth of the drug court. About $370,000 in operating money has been pledged by the state, and more is expected from other sources.
U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland, D-Lucasville, supports proposed legislation that would make grants available to counties that want to create mental health diversion courts. They would redirect nonviolent, mentally ill, petty offenders out of jail and into treatment.
Seminar speakers said that option is needed nationally because 13 percent of the 10 million people arrested each year suffer from severe mental disabilities. About 685,000 people are detained in jail with serious mental illnesses — eight times the number admitted to state hospi tals, said John R. Staup, executive director of the Butler County Mental Health Board.
“There's something wrong with this picture,” he said.
Though Butler County's criminal justice system treats the mentally ill better than do many other communities, he said, improvement is necessary.
“We've known how to do this (deal more effectively with the mentally ill) for years,” he said. “We just haven't found the wherewithal to do it.”
Several years ago, officials in Broward County, Fla., established a special mental health court.
Judge Mark A. Speiser, one of Tuesday's speakers, said many times the mentally ill were picked up by police and taken to jail for minor offenses. He said education has helped police and others in the system become more sensitive.
“My frustration was: Who to call? How to deal with these people?” he said. “I did not want them to become a part of merry-go-round justice. As a former federal and state prosecutor, I used to be under the impression that you lock up everybody and throw away the key. But gradually, I changed. I realized that it's easy to be tough, but tough to be fair.”go here for more
http://www.enquirer.com/editions/1999/11/10/loc_court_for_mentally.html
I had the pleasure of hearing Judge Speiser at the NAMI convention here in Florida. Whenever we talk about the need to take into consideration the mental state of the accused, we need to look honestly at the whole person.
These people are not given a "get out of jail free card" as some want to assume they are. They have court ordered treatment they must attend and if they do not, they do risk jail time. No one can force someone to get well and citizens need to be protected when they opt out. Yet when they do want to get better and are willing to do all they can to do it, they deserve all the support they can get.
So why should we treat veterans differently than others who are suffering? The veterans deserve to be treated fairly and honestly. This all grew out of the fact our jails are overcrowded because too many do not belong there. They should have been in treatment programs instead. Sending them to jail instead of treatment will only release them back into the public after they have done their time in the same mental state they were in before, yet again jeopardizing society needlessly. Sending them into treatment programs instead gives them the chance to recover from the illness and stop the revolving door of prison life. In the case of PTSD veterans, we owe them at least the same opportunity.
Senior Chaplain Kathie Costos
Namguardianangel@aol.com
http://www.namguardianangel.org/
http://www.woundedtimes.blogspot.com/
"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation." - George Washington
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Some psych patients wait days in hospital ERs
Some psych patients wait days in hospital ERs
Thursday, July 03, 2008 5:09:10 PM
NEW YORK(AP)
When staffers at a Brooklyn hospital spotted a middle-aged woman lying face-down on a waiting room floor last month, it hardly seemed like cause for alarm.
The sight, after all, was common in the psychiatric emergency room at Kings County Hospital Center. The unit is so routinely backed up with people waiting hours, or even days, for services that patients often spend the night nodding in chairs or sprawled in a corner.
It took an hour before a nurse realized the prone woman was in trouble. By then, she was dead.
Security camera footage of the woman drew outrage when it became public this week. Experts say it is also an extreme symptom of a crisis occurring in hospitals nationwide.
Emergency rooms, they say, have become all-purpose dumping grounds for the mentally ill, with patients routinely marooned a day or more while health care workers try to find someone to care for them.
A survey of hundreds of U.S. hospitals released last month by the American College of Emergency Physicians found that 79 percent reported that they routinely "boarded" psychiatric patients in their waiting rooms for at least some period of time because of the unavailability of immediate services.
One-third reported that those stays averaged at least eight hours, and 6 percent said they had average waits of more than 24 hours for the next step in a patient's care.
"We try to find a place to put them," said Dr. David Mendelson, an emergency physician in Dallas who wrote the ACEP report. Ideally, he said, that place would be a quiet spot with one-on-one nursing care, but that doesn't always happen.
"Unfortunately, sometimes the only thing we can do is restrain them, or medicate them," he said.
There are many reasons for the delays, which vary from city to city, but doctors said they usually boil down to one thing: a lack of available mental health services.
click post title for more
Thursday, July 03, 2008 5:09:10 PM
NEW YORK(AP)
When staffers at a Brooklyn hospital spotted a middle-aged woman lying face-down on a waiting room floor last month, it hardly seemed like cause for alarm.
The sight, after all, was common in the psychiatric emergency room at Kings County Hospital Center. The unit is so routinely backed up with people waiting hours, or even days, for services that patients often spend the night nodding in chairs or sprawled in a corner.
It took an hour before a nurse realized the prone woman was in trouble. By then, she was dead.
Security camera footage of the woman drew outrage when it became public this week. Experts say it is also an extreme symptom of a crisis occurring in hospitals nationwide.
Emergency rooms, they say, have become all-purpose dumping grounds for the mentally ill, with patients routinely marooned a day or more while health care workers try to find someone to care for them.
A survey of hundreds of U.S. hospitals released last month by the American College of Emergency Physicians found that 79 percent reported that they routinely "boarded" psychiatric patients in their waiting rooms for at least some period of time because of the unavailability of immediate services.
One-third reported that those stays averaged at least eight hours, and 6 percent said they had average waits of more than 24 hours for the next step in a patient's care.
"We try to find a place to put them," said Dr. David Mendelson, an emergency physician in Dallas who wrote the ACEP report. Ideally, he said, that place would be a quiet spot with one-on-one nursing care, but that doesn't always happen.
"Unfortunately, sometimes the only thing we can do is restrain them, or medicate them," he said.
There are many reasons for the delays, which vary from city to city, but doctors said they usually boil down to one thing: a lack of available mental health services.
click post title for more
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