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The Forum

February 18, 2003

This story is reprinted with permission of The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead.

N.D. families crusade for law change

By Janell Cole

BISMARCK - Sheree Spear believes only luck saved her son from committing suicide.

His grandmother found him after he had broken the glass on a gun case and loaded a weapon to blow himself away.

Fortunately, he had not yet pulled the trigger.

Now Spear is on a crusade to amend mental health commitment laws because she believes families of people with mental illness shouldn't trust luck to catch their loved ones in the moments between loading the gun and pulling the trigger.

Spear, a former Fargo resident now living in Des Moines, Iowa, is lobbying the North Dakota Legislature nearly full time on Senate Bill 2296, which may get a Senate vote today.

About 18 months ago, Spear said her son, who lives in Fargo, was paranoid, delusional and irrational. He would not agree to hospitalization.

Fearing he was suicidal, Spear tried to have him committed. She was told that if she couldn't prove he was dangerous to himself or others, he would not be ordered into treatment. The result was the gun incident and a near tragedy.

"How do you predict dangerousness if they have never had a previous violent act?" she asked. "You're dealing with someone who is unpredictable. Get them help before they become dangerous to themselves or others."

She told the Senate Judiciary Committee there is a gap in the law, that it is causing preventable tragedies and that SB 2296 can fill it.

The bill would add to mental health commitment laws new language that specifies that involuntary commitments can take place if the person has lost control over his thoughts or actions or has demonstrated an inability to make rational decisions about the need for treatment.

"My son almost died because this (current) law requires the family to not only predict but prove what an unpredictable, unstable person will do," Spear said.

The changes she is requesting are being adopted by other states and were developed by national mental health authorities, Spear said.

Randy Peterman of Moorhead also testified in favor of the bill. He told senators he has been hospitalized for mental illness and so has his son.

"When he got sick, we could all see it. But we couldn't get him in the hospital because people didn't think he was dangerous," Peterman testified. "But he was a danger to himself and he almost committed suicide. Why does someone have to become dangerous before they can get help?"

Others who work with mentally ill persons are nervous about the bill.

Allan Stenehjem, executive director of the Mental Health Association in North Dakota, knows Spear's story and supports her work. But he stops short of endorsing the bill.

The gap Spear tells of is a problem and some tragedies can occur, he said. "But then you have to weigh the rights of the individual. The court rules on facts, not guesses," Stenehjem said.

The MHA did not oppose the bill once it was amended to clear up some problematic language, he said.

"My concern is the unintended consequences," he said.

The MHA is fearful of backsliding to the days when someone could be locked up on the flimsiest say-so, Stenehjem said.

The Protection and Advocacy Project also opposes the bill.

But some families don't understand the opposition.

Judy Knutson of West Fargo supports the bill. Her brother lives homeless on the streets, sometimes being beaten and left for dead.

It's not right for authorities to let someone who is acting out their paranoia make decisions about their health care, she said.

Knutson told senators the state faces wrongful death lawsuits if the law is not changed. She said it is nearly impossible to get a long-term court order requiring people to take their psychotropic medications once they are stabilized in a hospital and then discharged.

"Please pass bill 2296. It will help some people who are too sick to get help themselves," she told the Senate committee.

The law is needed, said Sen. Stan Lyson, R-Williston, a retired county sheriff who has seen the devastation caused by mental illness.

"It's proactive. It's going to save some lives," he said.

The bill's prime sponsor is Sen. Carolyn Nelson, D-Fargo, who will carry the Judiciary Committee's do-pass recommendation to the Senate floor today.

Readers can reach Forum reporter Janell Cole at (701) 224-0830