I ask this question because have been sent an article in which MH services are blamed for not providing the appropriate care and support to a man who stabbed and killed a woman, whom he had met in an acute unit.
In a report, The Healthcare Inspectorate Wales (HIW) said steps which would have made the killing unlikely were not taken.
There is a contradiction in the way the man has been treated. In that he was given a life sentence in a jail, rather than sent to a long term MH establishment. Therefore the law does not view him as ill or ill enough!!!! However, it is the MH Trust that is seen as being negligent in his care and therefore perhaps they should be tried for manslaughter or gross negligence. Thinking as I go here but if the irresponsibilities of an organisation play a part in the killing of another person they should be made accountable.
I am not sure that anyone can be prevented from killing another person, unless they are incarcertated (s'cuse spelling) and I think whoever made that decision would need to be pretty damn sure the person had a very violent past and was likely to kill. Who knows that for sure? I am not defending irresponsible MH Trusts but there is no black and white in all this...only, for me, another non comedy of errors that seems to have taken place within the Trust and a legal system that still doesn't know the difference between acts carried out through illness or acts carried out for other reasons.
I think MH charities could do a better job, if they are even trying to help the mentally ill, in looking at how the legal system decides who has mental illness and then how it treats them. Actually, having a look at the negligence that goes on within MH Trusts is something charities could look more closely into too.
Perhaps, and this is not my view but it is a view, people with mental illness should be treated equally by the legal system. Then I would have to ask what point mental health services? What point diagnosing, and therefore acknowledging, mental illness in the first place?
I also wonder if the family of the lady who was stabbed will be entitled to compensation. Not that they necessarily want it but I think that might encourage organisations to become more accountable. Maybe not but usually if it comes to paying out large chunks of money, that tends to make organisations pay more attention.
The full article is here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/north_east/7684365.stm
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Morning Mandy
ReplyDeleteHope you slept, noticed you posted on sis quite late.?
Well, I don't think MH services can be accountable really. Assesment of risk to either oneself or others is a difficult call. And sadly, the wrong call is often made. They are human after all (well most of them)
I think the other issue is with the focus being on care in the community it is inevitable that people who maybe years ago would have had a lengthy stay in a mental hospital are now left in public with community support (which sadly can equate to little support at all) therefore risks to general public and mentals harming others is going to increase.
My view of course
Lareve x
Hi Lareve
ReplyDeleteI slept very well thanks. Having watched Razorlight on The Electric Proms.
Your views seem valid enough to me.
Was having convo with friend earlier about accountability not just in MH Services but with the Metropolitan Police case that is going on now. Ultimately, the statement 'Lessons will be learnt' will come out and not much else will change.
I don't think there is such a thing as accountability because people in charge seem untouchable.
Like the ex CEO of BLPT. There is a trail of devestation behind him and he has moved on and left it with no one calling him to account.
In fact the final court date for the care worker, who got stabbed by a resident in a MH care home was last Monday. For some reason the legal system doesn't think it warrants the ex CEO being there. Seems the buck stops nowhere these days.
Hope things are still ticking along for you. x
Judge has called for a review of the law in relation to personality disorder ........N IRELAND
ReplyDeleteKnife was held to woman's throat
Published Date: 22 October 2008
By Staff reporter
http://www.londonderrysentinel.co.UK/news/Knife-was-held-to-woman39s.4613444.jp
A judge has called for a review of the law in relation to personality disorder after jailing a couple for two years at Londonderry Crown Court for breaking into a family home in the Waterside.
Desmond Marrinan Q.C. Made his comments when he jailed Siobhan Harkin, (21), of Elmwood Street, and Trevor Kelly, (22), from Clooney Road, after they admitted enteringas tresspassers a house at Shearwater Way last December and assaulting amother wo by putting a knife to her throat.
Harkin, who had 74 previous convictions and who had spent 274 days in custody awaiting sentencing for the offences, suffers from a personality disorder.
Mr Marrinan was told the disorder was recognised under mental health law in England, Scotland and Wales, but was not in Northern Ireland.
The court heard the mother of two was assaulted when Harkin and Kelly entered her home in the early hours of the morning and ordered her to hand over the keys of a van parked outside. The van belonged to a neighbour and the court was told the couple were apprehended by police in the yard of a nearby house when they fled the Shearwater Way home after they bungled their creeper burglary.
Kelly, who had 41 previous convictions, held a knife to the mother's throat whilst demanding the keys for the vehicle.
Defence counsel for Harkin, Eoghan Devlin, said his client wished to apologise to the woman personally and said she was appalled by her actions. He admitted his client had a dreadful criminal record considering her age, but said it was linked to her personality disorder.
A barrister for Kelly said that during his period on remand he had been moved from the Hydebank Young Offender's Centre to Maghaberry Prison.
"Both he and Harkin had taken alcohol and valium before they went into the house," he said. "His mother died just months before and he went on a six month binge.
"During his tome in custody he found the regime in Maghaberry totally different to the regime in Hydebank to such an extent he attempted to take his own life. His first taste of an adult prison did not sit very easily with him."
Passing sentence, Judge Marrinan said it was a very serious and disturbing case of an innocent mother finding her home being suddenly invaded by intruders.
"This went on for some time and she had a knife put to her throat," he said. "One can only imagine what was going through her mind at the time.
"In the case of Harkin, her extraordinarily bad record must be put in context of her personality disorder which is recognised in England, Scotland and Wales, but is not recognised as such in this jurisdiction, which is something which should be looked at because it shows a weakness in our legislative system."
Both also got two years probation.
Judge has called for a review of the law in relation to personality disorder ........N IRELAND
ReplyDeleteKnife was held to woman's throat
Published Date: 22 October 2008
By Staff reporter
http://www.londonderrysentinel.co.UK/news/Knife-was-held-to-woman39s.4613444.jp
A judge has called for a review of the law in relation to personality disorder after jailing a couple for two years at Londonderry Crown Court for breaking into a family home in the Waterside.
Desmond Marrinan Q.C. Made his comments when he jailed Siobhan Harkin, (21), of Elmwood Street, and Trevor Kelly, (22), from Clooney Road, after they admitted enteringas tresspassers a house at Shearwater Way last December and assaulting amother wo by putting a knife to her throat.
Harkin, who had 74 previous convictions and who had spent 274 days in custody awaiting sentencing for the offences, suffers from a personality disorder.
Mr Marrinan was told the disorder was recognised under mental health law in England, Scotland and Wales, but was not in Northern Ireland.
The court heard the mother of two was assaulted when Harkin and Kelly entered her home in the early hours of the morning and ordered her to hand over the keys of a van parked outside. The van belonged to a neighbour and the court was told the couple were apprehended by police in the yard of a nearby house when they fled the Shearwater Way home after they bungled their creeper burglary.
Kelly, who had 41 previous convictions, held a knife to the mother's throat whilst demanding the keys for the vehicle.
Defence counsel for Harkin, Eoghan Devlin, said his client wished to apologise to the woman personally and said she was appalled by her actions. He admitted his client had a dreadful criminal record considering her age, but said it was linked to her personality disorder.
A barrister for Kelly said that during his period on remand he had been moved from the Hydebank Young Offender's Centre to Maghaberry Prison.
"Both he and Harkin had taken alcohol and valium before they went into the house," he said. "His mother died just months before and he went on a six month binge.
"During his tome in custody he found the regime in Maghaberry totally different to the regime in Hydebank to such an extent he attempted to take his own life. His first taste of an adult prison did not sit very easily with him."
Passing sentence, Judge Marrinan said it was a very serious and disturbing case of an innocent mother finding her home being suddenly invaded by intruders.
"This went on for some time and she had a knife put to her throat," he said. "One can only imagine what was going through her mind at the time.
"In the case of Harkin, her extraordinarily bad record must be put in context of her personality disorder which is recognised in England, Scotland and Wales, but is not recognised as such in this jurisdiction, which is something which should be looked at because it shows a weakness in our legislative system."
Both also got two years probation.
In N Ireland if this man was PD and did not have a comorbid MI he couldn't be detained & treated under our mental health act
ReplyDeleteJeremy
Hi Jeremy
ReplyDeleteThanks for the details of the judge who is seeking a review.
Personality Disorder may be recognised, as a MH problem, in the UK but that by no means means that people with PD are getting appropriate treatment and care. In fact, mostly MH services ignore them as they are not OBLIGED to provide care for these people. I am not sure who MH services are obliged to provide care for anymore and even less certain of whether that care does any good.