Monday, May 7, 2007

The System is Broken: Fix It!

More about Cho Seung-Hui from AP:
WASHINGTON (AP) - The gunman who killed 32 people at Virginia Tech failed to get the mental health treatment ordered by a judge who declared him an imminent threat to himself and others, a newspaper reported Monday.

Seung-Hui Cho was found "mentally ill and in need of hospitalization" in December 2005, according to court papers. A judge ordered him into involuntary outpatient treatment.

However, neither the court nor community mental health officials followed up on the judge's order, and Cho didn't get the treatment, The Washington Post reported, citing unnamed authorities who have seen Cho's medical files.

Federal, state and local law enforcement and local mental health officials contacted Monday by The Associated Press would not confirm the story. School officials did not immediately return multiple calls seeking comment.

"The system doesn't work well," said Tom Diggs, executive director of the Commission on Mental Health Law Reform, which has been studying the state mental health system and will report to the General Assembly next year.
And if the Virginia legislature can't or won't fix it, they better identify why.

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