Another young man has been sentenced to jail for sexually torturing a randomly selected family. He has a history of mental illness. His illness led to a psychiatric evaluation a month before the attack.He told the doctors that he had carefully planned an attack on a schoolmate that included killing her. He was appraised for four days and released. His parents knew that he had homicidal fantasies.
This is another example of the failure of our health care system to work with the justice system to prevent these attacks from happening. This young man left a trail of clues that no one chose to follow to its logical conclusion. Did the psychiatrists talk to his parents and friends, people who know the most about him and any changes in his behaviour? Or, did the law prevent the doctors from seeking information because the young man was over the age of majority and the medical system must obtain his permission to share his medical information. Does it make sense to ask someone who might possibly be in the middle of a mental health crisis to make such a decision?
Each time we read about incidents like these, we wring our hands and promise to fix the problem. Cities and provinces say they will review their mental health policies as if these policies exist in isolation. Problems with mental health, unlike physical health, can lead to violence. Policies concerned with mental illness need to be discussed in concert with the changes in the law.
