Virginia's Crippled Public Mental Health System

An Ugly Secret about Suicide

Last month, after the Virginia Tech tragedy, the operations of the Virginia Mental Health System came under intense scrutiny. Here is what was discovered:

- In December 2005, Seung-Hui Cho's roommate reported that he might be suicidal.
- Cho was transported by authorities to Carilion St. Albans Behavioral Health to undergo an examination.
- Special justice, Paul Barnett, ordered Cho to undergo outpatient counseling.

But Cho never reported for outpatient counseling, and sixteen months later he brought two guns to the Virginia Tech campus and fired approximately 170 rounds, killing 33 people including himself.

Here's the important question:

Suppose that instead of saying Cho was suicidal someone had told Justice Barnett there was a danger of Cho perpetrating mass homicide against his fellow students and faculty, would Cho have been still been released on his person promise to undergo outpatient counseling?

There's no good answer to that question, but here are the possibilities.

(1) If the answer is "no" , it makes the Virginia court and mental health system look completely anemic and incompetent.

(2) If the answer is "yes", then it points out a double standard. Suicide is not considered as important as homicide.

I would submit that the answer is number 2. Suicide is apparently an acceptable artifact of the Virginia Mental Health System. And let's face it, many suicides are not reported; many more are under-investigated.

A Crippled Mental Health System

Virginia, it seems, has a relaxed attitude about death and abuse in their mental health system -- that is until it becomes a problem for Virginia's non-mentally ill population.

Here are some historical examples:

-- In 1996 eighteen year old John McCloskey died 14 months after suffering severe internal injuries while being held at Western State Hospital in Staunton. McCloskey's father believed John may have been sodomized with a broom-like handle so savagely that his bowel was torn and his liver was punctured and he vomited his own feces.