To: President Donald Trump, The Illinois State House, The Illinois State Senate, Governor J.B. Pritzker, The United States House of Representatives, and The United States Senate
Prevent violent crimes by fixing broken healthcare for mentally ill
Families of those who are suffering with mental illness should be empowered to seek involuntary commitment and treatment for non-compliant patients by relaxing the criteria for involuntary commitment from "being danger to self and others" to any symptomatic mental illness.
Why is this important?
Except for a few, in the majority of states a mentally ill patient has to be a danger to self or others before he could even be evaluated at a mental hospital for treatment. This means all those patients with mental illness who are extremely delusional, paranoid and otherwise mentally incompetent could not be subjected to treatment if they refuse to voluntarily see a psychiatrist or take medicine. It is extremely difficult for the family to convince the state attorney to have a patient evaluated at a facility involuntarily. As a result of this, many mentally ill patients are left without treatment. These are the patients who usually commit mass murders, because in a delusional paranoid state they are left untreated; just by the strict criteria of being homicidal or suicidal they are often excluded from any involuntary commitment or treatment. I think this legal requirement for involuntary commitment should be relaxed to include all patients suffering from symptomatic mental illness.
I am the brother of a mentally ill patient who resides in Illinois. He has been non-compliant with his medications for almost two years now. His illness has effected his family, his children and all. They are watching him suffer, but are unable to do anything because they are unable to convince the state attorney for involuntary commitment and treatment. It is an extremely frustrating and painful situation.
I am the brother of a mentally ill patient who resides in Illinois. He has been non-compliant with his medications for almost two years now. His illness has effected his family, his children and all. They are watching him suffer, but are unable to do anything because they are unable to convince the state attorney for involuntary commitment and treatment. It is an extremely frustrating and painful situation.