February Reader's Digest article : INSANITY of closing mental hospitals

Just weeks after the Providence Journal published my letter observing the neglected mentally ill in  Providence's Kennedy Plaza ( " Misery of the mentally ill all around us ", Dec.!5 ) I was pleased to read this article, " Schizophrenic Killer- My Cousin " by Mac McClelland in February's  Reader's Digest.  The article makes the same points on the moral catastrophe of deinstitutionalization  with a personal story of a horrific murder that could have been prevented: "  It's insanity to kill your father with a kitchen knife. It's also insanity to close hospitals, fire therapists, and leave families to face mental illness on their own ". The writer goes on to detail the " vanishing mental health safety net " in this wealthy country. " Today there is one public psychiatric-care bed per 7,100 Americans- the same ratio as in 1850 ".

          My own beloved but severely mentall ill brother was also a victim of this not so benign neglect . I found his bloated, blackened, unrecognizable corpse in his Warwick apartment one very hot day last June. My sister and I were bringing him his  lithium refill. His medical doctor had delayed it because Ray had failed to keep an appointment ( not cooperating ? ) . Ray was a radio technician for the Warwick Police Department for some 20 years.  A funeral  contingent showed up at the Pawtucket Cemetery to fire off shots in his honor. " Finally, a little dignity for Ray ", I thought. At the wake his two daughters and old friends agreed sadly that our mental health system stinks. Not for nothing Ray talked to God at night in the tone of old Job of the Old Testament. He was a devout Catholic to the end.

            We hope change is in the air.