A long descent

The sad story of Donald Voorhis mirrors what many families are going through ...

"For seven or eight years, it's been going on long enough the system should have picked up on it by now," said [one relative]. A string of convictions in Anchorage and in Palmer courts trails Donald Voorhis, mostly misdemeanor offenses: driving on a suspended license, disorderly conduct, criminal mischief, criminal trespass, assault on a police officer. He was fined, sentenced to short jail terms and placed on probation. It was a long descent to his September arrest on more serious charges ...

"We let them run amok in life until they get to the point where we can incarcerate them. If that's the only choice we have in life, so be it," [another relative] said. "Hopefully this will get him some help."

Humanitarian concerns

U.S. District Judge Michael Mukasey found Susan Lindauer so sick as to be incompetent to stand trial. It is only a slight simplification to describe the threshold of being competent to stand for a criminal trial as being able to tell the difference between the judge and the prosecutor.

According to an Associated Press article, the Judge explained that expert examinations determined that Lindauer suffers from "hallucinations, grandiose and persecutory delusions and mood disturbances, including purported gifts of prophecy and spiritual visitations."

Judge Mukasey also doubted the government could prove the charges against Ms. Lindauer, in large part because an element of the crime could not be proven because she was so sick that "even lay people recognize that she is seriously disturbed." After expounding on how very sick Lindauer is, Judge Mukasey then refused to impose an order for her treatment.

The judge had "humanitarian concerns" about ordering medication for Ms. Lindauer, wary of a procedure that "necessarily involves physically restraining defendant" in order to inject "mind-altering drugs."

Putting aside that the large majority of court-ordered medication does not involve the use of restraints and the patently obvious need for her treatment, we wonder how "humanitarian" was Judge Mukasey’s alternative solution. He allowed Susan Lindauer to walk out the courtroom door, apparently still psychotic.

Short bits …

• Pete Earley testified before a congressional hearing, saying that “he was appalled that the government refused to help his son's disorder but would punish him for it.” Earley’s book CRAZY is still a hot seller – get a copy for your vacation reading stack or get your book group to read and discuss.
• Rockthepsychiatryvote on Dr. Torrey’s call to divorce mental illness from mental health …
• Alaska’s state supreme court in Myers corrected an oversight in state law, clarifying that a person’s "best interests" be taken into account when the state exercises its duty to protect an individual from themselves. (Most other state laws and the Treatment Advocacy Center’s Model Law for Assisted Treatment include similar determinations.) Myers is one of many cases decided each year in the state courts that has no real impact nationally, but can hopefully make a difference for some people in Alaska.
• “The mental health consumer needs to recognize that liberty is precious, but not everyone in our cohort can "handle" liberty …”
• Pam Wagner’s (coauthor of “Divided Minds”) recent blog entries on outpatient commitment are compelling reading, as she weighs honestly how she feels about it and hears from blog visitors what they think.