Albany, NY — Governor
Pataki and state legislators should stand tall and protect all of New York’s citizens
by swiftly passing Kendra’s Law before the legislative session ends. Allowing the
clock to run out on this bold and compassionate proposal would be irresponsible and will
only perpetuate the degradation of New York’s casualties of a failed
deinstitutionalization policy, individuals with untreated severe mental illnesses.
Yet another violent attack by an individual with untreated mental illness occurred only
days ago when Olga Maisonet, a woman with a history of mental illness and previous
assaults, stabbed Guo-Xi Li, a retired factory worker to death. How high must the death
toll climb before New York takes responsibility for those who are unable to recognize that
they need treatment for their illness? The last several months have been filled with
tragic stories involving New Yorkers and individuals with untreated mental illnesses. One
would think that the death of Kendra Webdale, the severing of Edgar Rivera’s legs
under a subway train, the shooting of Charles Stevens on the LIRR by police for wielding a
sword under psychosis, and the death of Rodney Mason who was shot to death by police
during one of his psychotic episodes would cause many to understand the dangers of
untreated mental illness and reconsider treatment options.
For far too long, thousands of vulnerable New Yorkers have eked out a pitiful existence
on city streets, under ground in subway tunnels, or in jails and prisons as a result of
the misguided efforts of civil rights advocates to keep the severely ill out of treatment.
The images of these gravely ill citizens on city landscapes have become bleak reminders of
the failure of deinstitutionalization and success of
transinstitutionalization. New Yorkers have grown accustomed to seeing these individuals
huddling over steam grates in the cold, animatedly carrying on conversations with
invisible companions, wearing filthy, tattered clothing, urinating and defecating on
sidewalks or threatening passersby. Worse still, New Yorkers have seen the mentally ill
being carried away on stretchers as victims of suicide or violent crime, or in handcuffs
as perpetuators of violence against others. All of this occurs under the watchful eyes of
fellow citizens and government officials who do nothing but shake their heads in blind
tolerance.
The consequences of failing to treat these illnesses have been, and continue to be,
devastating. While Americans with untreated severe mental illnesses represent less than
one percent of the total U.S. population, they commit almost 1,000 homicides in the United
States each year, or between four and five percent of all murders annually. At least
one-third of the estimated 600,000 homeless individuals suffer from schizophrenia or
manic-depressive illness, and 28 percent of these people forage for some of their food in
garbage cans. At least 10 percent, or 170,000 individuals, of our jail and prison
populations suffer from these illnesses, costing American taxpayers a staggering $8.5
billion per year. Moreover, studies suggest that delaying treatment results in permanent
harm, including increased treatment resistance, worsening severity of symptoms, increased
hospitalizations and delayed remission of symptoms. In addition, persons suffering from
severe psychiatric illnesses are frequently victimized. Studies have shown that 22 percent
of women with untreated schizophrenia have been raped. Suicide rates for individuals
suffering from schizophrenia and manic-depressive illness are 10 to 15 times higher than
for the general population.
Denying the mentally ill access to psychiatric hospitals coupled with weak state
treatment laws has only served to increase the rates of homelessness, violence,
incarceration, suicide and victimization for this population. Nearly half of those
suffering from these insidious illnesses do not realize they are sick and in need of
treatment because their brain disease has affected their self-awareness. They do not
recognize that the symptoms of their illness - hallucinations, delusions, paranoia, and
withdrawal - are in fact, symptoms. Since they do not believe they are sick they refuse to
take their medicine, which is perfectly acceptable in the eyes of the current law.
When individuals refuse medical intervention in New York, the State’s laws prevent
them from receiving appropriate care until it is too late. These laws prohibit treating
individuals over their objection, until they pose a danger to themselves or others. In
other words, an individual must have a finger on the trigger of a gun or push someone into
the path of an oncoming subway train before any medical care will be prescribed.
Many states have abandoned the dangerousness standard for treatment, which New York
still maintains. These states consider factors such as decompensation, being unaware of a
need for treatment, having a history of medication non-compliance or violence.
Approximately 40 states have laws that allow for the use of some form of assisted
outpatient treatment to substantially improve the lives of those suffering from severe
mental illness and enhance the communities in which they live. Studies have proven that
statutes like Kendra’s Law, are effective in ensuring treatment compliance. The
challenge remains in getting the states to utilize what is at their disposal rather
tolerating the revolving-door syndrome of hospital admissions, readmissions, abandonment
to the streets and incarceration that usually engulfs those not receiving treatment.
Kendra’s Law would prevent individuals like Andrew Goldstein, Charles Stevens,
Julio Perez, and Olga Maisonet from spinning endlessly through the revolving door of
hospital admissions and readmissions, only to be abandoned to the streets with no
follow-up care. Kendra’s Law also would help eliminate random and senseless acts of
violence such as that which tragically ended the lives of Kendra Webdale and Guo-Xi Li.
New York must not fail its citizens. If Kendra’s Law is not passed, New Yorkers
will usher in the year 2000 in the same state of bedlam that their forebears did in the
year 1900; the state’s real crime of the century.
