Re: Gingrich self destructs -- again

El Castor wrote:
Islander <nospam@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/04/22/gingrich-liberalism-vatech/

Gingrich Blames Virginia Tech Tragedy On Liberalism

By golly! Gingrich was EXACTLY right! He would sure make a fine
president!

From the front page of our own left wing San Francisco Chronicle of
two days ago -- an article about the difficulty of treating the
mentally ill, specifically in connection with the Virginia Tech case.


"PATIENTS' RIGHTS VS. PUBLIC SAFETY
Virginia Tech shootings highlight how mental health laws that prohibit
forced treatment make it difficult to intervene
Victoria Colliver, Chronicle Staff Writer
Sunday, April 22, 2007
<Snip>
"Being completely and absolutely overcome with illness -- walking
around and thinking you're on Mars and that everyone is a Venusian --
is not enough to get someone into treatment. They have to be in
physical danger at the time," said Jonathan Stanley, assistant
director of the Treatment Advocacy Center, a national group based in
Arlington, Va., that supports forced treatment.

That standard often prevents authorities from stepping in until after
something terrible has happened. "A person has to commit a crime --
there has to be blood on the ground -- before we can act," said
Randall Hagar, director of governmental relations for the California
Psychiatric Association. "That's a pretty darn high bar." Hagar said
the requirement of imminent danger is too strict because people are
generally being observed for a short period of time."The person who
can hold it together for 20 minutes while they're being interviewed by
a police officer on a street corner may be highly dangerous," he said,
"but they can evade detention."

As a mother, Gambs said she was mystified by a system that encouraged
her to allow her adult son to become homeless and ultimately jailed
before he could be hospitalized against his will. She said police
officers actually encouraged her to let her son live on the streets in
hopes he would be arrested and get help."

I've been saying the same thing for a week. (-8


And you've been wrong for a week! There are alternatives to commitment as it was practiced before Reagan closed the warehouses and denied funding for mental health programs. You cannot have it both ways. Either commit them or treat them. Reagan shut down both.
.