INVOLUNTARY PSYCHIATRIC COMMITMENT – THE OTHER VICTIMS OF THE AFTERMATH A SCHOOL SHOOTING.

Unfortunately, our public institutions are fraught with feckless individuals who regularly perform their duties by one rule above all else:  “I’ve got to cover my ass.”  I see it regularly in the criminal court system – glory to the unusual prosecutor or still more rare Judge who comes to his or her decision regarding a case disposition without regard for any potential backlash should the particular defendant one day be accused of committing another transgression.  Backbone is simply a scarce commodity in the public sector.  But in the aftermath of the most recent school shooting, I was just reminded about the weak-kneed nature of our school administrators in particular. 
 
The case:  A 15 year-old high school student with mild ADHD told a friend with whom he had a disagreement, “I’ll kill you.”  His parents were promptly summoned to the school and told that their boy could not return until he went to the local hospital and received a psychiatric evaluation.  Naturally, the parents brought him to the hospital immediately, hoping to get the necessary evaluation and clearance as quickly as possible so their son – who had recently turned his grades around in a positive direction – wouldn’t miss more than a day of classes.  As expected, the hospital psychiatrist gave him a clean bill of health and sent him on his way. 

End of story, right?  School asses covered, no?  Apparently not, as the school couldn’t verify that the hospital psychiatrist had all of the relevant school records prior to making her assessment. So the next day the school administrators called the parents and told them that their son must GO BACK to the hospital for a new evaluation because the hospital hadn’t had enough information from the school – even though the boy had verbally told the psychiatrist about everything that was in the school record.  The parents, again just wanting to get their boy back to school, dutifully brought him back to the hospital.  A scant few hours later, this 15 year-old boy with no known psychiatric issues and who had never had so much as school detention, was in a 24-hour secure lock-down unit of the hospital in a 6×8 foot room with nothing but a prison-style bed, a television, and 2 crayons with which to write.  In what I have since learned was the 2nd such commitment in a week since the Parkland, Florida shooting, this local high school had sent a child to get a psychiatric evaluation “clearance” in order to return to school and the child ended up ultimately requiring Probate Court intervention, days later, in order to be freed. 

In this boys case it took four days, three nights, three separate 2-minute psych “evaluations,” a week of missed school, and one courageous Probate Court Judge, but this normal, most typical 15 year-old High School Sophomore is finally home with his loving, supportive family.  Imagine what happens to the children who don’t have the family support or wherewithal to hire an experienced Connecticut criminal attorney to help them navigate the process – how many days, weeks or months do they languish in the abyss that is our mental health system? The sad irony is that this boy’s mental state is far worse now than it was before he set foot in that hospital;  and there are two parents who will likely forever carry the guilt of having unwittingly been bamboozled into leading their child into the gallows of our vapid psychiatric apparatus.

These gutless school administrators aren’t protecting students – to the contrary, they merely allow school shooters to continue to rack up “victims” long after their barrel is cold.