(Oct. 7, 2015) My son, Eric, started exhibiting symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia 15 years ago. To date, he has received no treatment for his severe mental illness.
When Eric first became symptomatic, I took him to my home in Albany, NY, and miraculously succeeded in having him hospitalized in a psychiatric center for two weeks. During that time he was offered medication, but every time it was offered he was told that he had the right to refuse medication. He heard the message and refused medication.
After the time his Medicaid was willing to pay was up, he was discharged with no treatment whatsoever. Since I had waited in the psychiatric emergency room from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. until a bed could be found for him, I was devastated that my efforts had resulted in nothing being done for my son.
I had a long commute and was driving back and forth from work on Family Medical Leave just to open the door for social workers because I knew Eric would not open the door. He would run out the back door when they came in. He wandered constantly, and I was terrified he would be killed.
I eventually took Eric back to Pennsylvania, only to be told that I would never obtain treatment for him there. The psychiatric social worker who told me this explained that the Supreme Court in Pennsylvania had upheld a 14-year-old schizophrenic’s right to refuse medication. At that time, I thought she did not know what she was talking about. Surely it could not be impossible to obtain treatment?
Sure enough, I called attorneys in New York and Pennsylvania and was told that I could not obtain guardianship of my son unless he was in imminent danger of starvation. In other words, if you put food in front of a person, and he eats it, he is considered by law to be fully competent. A hurdle an amoeba could easily cross.
After discussing my situation with a psychiatrist and others in the know, I moved to Arizona because they have an option for committal that other states do not: acutely and persistently disabled. But, when I went to Pennsylvania to transport Eric to Arizona, he refused to come and threatened me with his fists. I returned to Arizona alone and broken-hearted.
Eric is now 48 years old, and is living a subhuman existence at his grandmother’s house. We have not been able to get him to go to a dentist or a doctor in 15 years. He is on disability and Medicaid, but that doesn’t guarantee that he will ever obtain treatment of any kind. My son deserves so much better.
RUTH FISHER
PHOENIX, ARIZONA
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