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Page 3
We hear now, though, so much more about people who tried to get help and were denied. The man in New York who pushed a young woman off the subway tracks, who previously had begged for treatment of his schizophrenia resulted in Kendra's Law. Time will tell if Kendra's law will change the way New York handles its psychiatric patients.
Reluctantly they admitted her for evaluation but released her three days later. Her sister-in-law went all the way to the hospital CEO asking that they admit her until they could get a commitment hearing. They refused, stating that they saw no reason to keep her. The sister-in-law reported that the depression became so severe that the woman developed psychotic symptoms, including hearing voices. The sister-in-law left the house to go fetch her brother, the woman's husband, from work. When they returned, the woman was gone with the children in the car. In that space of twenty minutes, four people were dead. Was this, Lawrence Stevens, J.D., the rational choice of a woman who knew her own mind? Is suicide really a personal decision that only affects oneself? Whether it is a respected physician with a terminal illness, a midwestern mother of three, or a homeless man with no family, suicide is not a solitary consequence.
The copyright of the article "Whose Life is it Anyway?" Suicide and Human Rights - Page 3 in Mental Illness is owned by Amy Hillgren Peterson. Permission to republish "Whose Life is it Anyway?" Suicide and Human Rights - Page 3 in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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