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Daily Oklahoman

October 25, 2001

Reprinted with permission of the author. All rights reserved.

Letter to the Editor

By Mary T. Zdanowicz

Gov. Frank Keating is right to push for answers in the death of a Vinita Hospital nurse at the hands of a man with severe mental illness ("Keating seeks 'full-scale review' in Vinita nurse's shooting death," Oct. 23, Daily Oklahoman).

But he needs to make sure he is asking the right questions.

The Governor asks "Why wasn't Ricky Martin in prison if he had a history of being suicidal and homicidal?" But the real question is "Why wasn't Martin being treated on an outpatient basis pursuant to a court's order, as Oklahoma law allows, to ensure that he remained on his medication?"

Both DeAnna Dorsey and Ricky Martin lost their lives that day because Martin was not being supported.

Prisons are not the answer. Treatment is.

Sincerely,
Mary T. Zdanowicz, Executive Director, Treatment Advocacy Center