Waiting for danger? Here it is.

“What do we have to wait for? Do we have to wait for him to hurt somebody or
kill somebody before they do something?”

Seems like far too often, the answer is yes.

Wait until he escalates. Until you can prove he is a danger. Until danger is imminent.

The latest result of such twisted and irrational policies is making headlines in Maine this week.

Robert and Amy Bruce spent years trying to help their son deal with his mental illness, even letting him live at home despite their fears. But on Tuesday, the illness won out and authorities say William Bruce, 24, bludgeoned his mother to death. Efforts to help William Bruce through the years were stymied, first by the hope that he would grow out of it and later by confidentiality laws and civil liberties intended to protect his freedom, but at the expense of the treatment he badly needed but refused to accept.

The Bruce family, barred from having a say in many of their son's treatment decisions, were left to either turn their back on him or accommodate his illness and accept the risks.