We sent this letter by regular mail to the U.S. Chief Justice Honorable
John G. Roberts, and to the eight Honorable Associate Justices.
Miami, May 10, 2007
Hon. John G. Roberts
Chief Justice
U.S. Supreme Court
Washington, D.C. 20543
Honorable Chief Justice:
The Families of People with Untreated Mental Illness need your understanding
and support.
I copied from a Statement of the Treatment Advocacy Center that
they published on June, 2006 - "The U.S. Supreme Court ruling
in Clark v. Arizona, shattered the hopes of long term psychiatric
treatment for Eric Clark, the young man with schizophrenia who killed
a police officer while delusional, and instead upheld his sentence
of 25 years to life in prison. The Court backed Arizona's minimally
protective insanity defense, saying the Constitution guarantees
no more than that for people with severe mental illnesses who commit
a crime."
As far as we are concerned, this ruling establishes that no help
is available for persons with mental illness that also have anosognosia
or the biological inability to comprehend that they are mentally
ill, and consequently refuse the medical care they feel they do
not need. In most of the rest of the world, psychiatrists, without
the intervention of the Courts, temporarily treat persons with anosognosia.
Since you are the father of two young children, perhaps you could
understand the anguish of the parents of the homeless who live on
the streets of Washington D.C. as well as those in the rest of the
country.
Stigma and discrimination keep the relatives silent and ashamed,
overwhelmed by the consequences of the decisions of the Supreme
Court, actions of the legislators and the judiciary system that
seem to ignore advances of science proving that schizophrenia and
bipolar disorders are treatable brain disorders and that half of
all of those persons affected also suffer from anosognosia and need
to be temporarily treated against their will - as Eric Clark should
have been. This failure is more responsible for Eric Clark's actions
than was Eric Clark himself!
Our experiences as life long care givers tell us that the U.S. Supreme
Court decision is detrimental to the patients, the families and
the nation. The solution is to provide - and only as the last resort
when all other alternatives have failed - the short-term, involuntary
psychiatric treatment they so desperately need. The result will
not only be reflected in declining crime statistics and fewer mentally
ill inmates, but also a great reduction in the numbers of the homeless.
We express these concerns hoping someone will step forward and be
willing to
recognize that there is a very serious problem with the status quo,
and help us, and
most likely help prevent another Virginia Tech tragedy at the same
time.
Regards,
Rachel H. Diaz - Spokesperson
FAMILIES OF PEOPLE WITH UNTREATED MENTAL ILLNESS
WE are all volunteers and we don't accept contributions)
www.LackofInsightmi.org - Lack of Insight in Mental Illness
Phone: 305-274-3076-Fax: 305-273-0261
c.c: Honoranble Associate Justices:
John Paul Stevens
Antonio Scalia
Anthony M. Kennedy
David H. Souter
Clarence Thomas
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Stephen G. Breyer
Samuel A. Alito
"PERSONS WITH MENTAL ILLNESS THAT ARE IN JAIL OR HOMELESS"
It would seem as if most of the people living
in the richest country of the world have accepted as unavoidable
the fact that a great many persons who suffer from treatable biological
brain disorders live on the streets and disproportionately fill
our jails.
But as members of the Families of People with Untreated Mental Illness,
we know that they are more likely to be part of the fifty percent
of all persons with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder who REFUSE
MEDICAL CARE due to anosognosia. Never heard of anosognosia? It
means "without knowledge," or the biological inability
of the person to comprehend that they are mentally ill and in need
of psychiatric care.
Antiquated civil rights laws allow persons with anosognosia who
don't believe that they are mentally ill, to reject the medical
care they so desperately need in order to function properly in society.
This robs them of their only chance to have a life with out the
horrors of delusions, hearing voices, irrational fears, etc.
Occasionally, those who sometimes become "imminently dangerous
to self or others," may be mandated to receive emergency, short-term
psychiatric medical treatment. But, with no further follow up or
supervision, our sick relatives soon return to their former condition.
Some of our untreated, severely mentally ill relatives are among
the homeless persons who beg, live and sleep on the streets, bathe
at public libraries and are ignored by most of us. We all forget
that they are someone's son or daughter or sister or father; that
one day they were the pride and joy of their parents who are now
unable - in fact not permitted - to rescue them, and who often blame
themselves for abandoning them. What we must do is to make sensible
changes in the law that presently keeps the mentally ill "free"
to remain psychotic and literally trapped in an illogical legal
concept of civil rights.
Mental illness does not discriminate and only those NOT DIRECTLY
AFFECTED have the clarity of mind, the power and the freedom to
ask for justice. We, as families, are overwhelmed and in desperate
need of YOUR HELP!!! Please pass this information along to as many
people as possible.
A positive note:
The citizens of Florida have new reason to have hope! It was just
announced that the Chief Judge of the Florida Supreme Court has
appointed Judge Steve Leifman to serve as special counsel to recommend
changes in Florida's criminal justice system to stop the revolving
door of mentally ill inmates. There is also a new and united front
consisting of all the branches of the state's government banding
together to find solutions. One of the most important aspects of
the solutions will involve the allocation of funds by the state
legislature. In this regard, each one of us can work toward the
solution by letting our legislators know how important this allocation
is to all of us.
We count with your support,
1) Anosognosia Greek for "without knowledge"
We acknowledge and thank:
E. Fuller Torrey, M.D. our best friend and the author of "Surviving
Schizophrenia," See - Fourth Edition, Pages 79/80 - 2001.
Mary T. Zdanowicz, J.D., Executive Director of the Treatment Advocacy
Center, <http://www.psychlaws.org>www.psychlaws.org
Xavier Amador, Ph.D. who wrote "I Am Not Sick - I Don't Need
Help" - New Edition 2007 - published 2000.
and Pete Earley - the author of the book "CRAZY-A Father's
Search Through America's Mental Health Madness" - 2006.
Background:
See the U.S. Department of Justice (2006), Bureau of Justice Statistics
Special Report:
Mental Health Problems of Prison and Jail Inmates. Retrieved December
13, 2006 from <http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/mhppji.pdf>http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/mhppji.pdf
From article by Xavier Amador, Ph.D. - Lessons Learned It is not
about "DENIAL" Schizophrenia Digest Winter 2007.
"It's Not Denial
According to the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision
(DSM-IV-TR), "A majority of individuals with schizophrenia
lack insight ... Evidence suggests that poor insight is a manifestation
of the illness itself, rather than a coping strategy ... comparable
to the lack of awareness of neurological deficits seen in stroke,
termed anosognosia."
As co-chair of the last revision of the DSM-IV text on schizophrenia,
I was asked to propose changes that would better reflect scientific
consensus. Every change considered had to be peer-reviewed by other
scientists. The quote above reflects scientific consensus in the
field (as of 1999) that poor insight is common in schizophrenia
and is linked to executive (or frontal lobe) dysfunction. In the
seven years since this update in the DSM, many new studies have
replicated this finding."
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