(Apr. 27, 2016) My mother died while eating breakfast three years ago. In my shock and grief, I vowed to change the circumstances that led to her death.
You see, my son had killed her, because he lived in a delusional, imaginary world in which it was a heroic act.
What could have stopped him? The answer is simple: Pennsylvania must allow families to get mental health treatment for loved ones before it’s too late.
Pennsylvania’s psychiatric hospitalization law requires someone to be an imminent danger to themselves or others before they can be committed. This means that most people get treatment only when they are dangerous at the time of evaluation, which is long past the point when someone needs psychiatric care.
To get psychiatric treatment in a hospital, my son Levi would have had to demonstrate he was a clear and present danger. Evidence of a clear and present danger includes assault, use of weapons, repeated threats to kill or harm, and harm to oneself. The law presupposes that anyone who later kills will first go through one of these stages.
But Levi’s illness didn’t make him angry or threatening. He was quiet and calm, though distant. Until he killed my mother while she ate breakfast, he had not raised a hand against anyone. We had no early warning signs of violence.
On the other hand, we had plenty of other early warnings. He believed that aliens had given him a bionic heart and that angels were his best friends. At times, he moved in a strange, slow way and could not understand what we said to him, and once he sat for hours in the snow until he had hypothermia and fell down a flight of stairs, fracturing his back and face. He also had a delusional memory that my mother had attempted to stab him while he slept. He believed she was poisoning our food. He told me that her spirit had left her body and she was not really his grandmother any more.
By the time danger was both clear and present, my son had killed my mother and was suddenly incarcerated. We lost my mother and he lost his adult life.
If Pennsylvania had better treatment laws for people with severe mental illness, my mother might be alive today and my son might not be sitting in jail. But in Pennsylvania, we had to wait for my son to become dangerous.
Pennsylvania must alter its commitment standards. I’m looking for state legislators who want to champion this necessary change. Let’s not let another tragic anniversary go by nor wait for more unnecessary deaths.
If Pennsylvania legislators refuse to act on behalf of those with severe mental illness, we need all of our representatives in Congress to support the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act. Sponsored by Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Upper St. Clair, this bill would set a minimal “need for treatment” national standard. This means Levi would have gotten treatment when he displayed early warning signs, before my mother was killed.
If nothing is done, the tragedies like mine will continue to make headlines.
Visit #aBedInstead to learn about the Treatment Advocacy Center's new campaign to address the national psychiatric bed shortage.
RUTH A. JOHNSTON
GIBSONIA, PENNSYLVANIA
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