| Illinois’ Inadequate Mental Health “System” Costs Lives Illinois’ broken mental health system is costing lives, not only the lives of those with mental illness, but of their families and others as well. In July, a Cook County judge sentenced a woman, Mary Smith, who has a mental illness, to life imprisonment in a state mental health facility. Last year Smith, who had been in and out of mental hospitals six times in the past several years, set a fire in the stairwell of a Chicago apartment. Four of the building’s residents died in the resulting blaze.
The reason? According to the newspapers, she was homeless, had lost her shoes and was cold.
We know that with consistent treatment and support, the vast majority of people with mental illness see their symptoms improve and are able to lead normal productive lives. But Illinois’ revolving door mental health system too often provides little treatment, and less support. Instead people with mental illnesses – especially those without adequate health insurance – are hospitalized for a few days, stabilized and then released with little or no follow up or support. So in a short time their symptoms return, their behavior deteriorates and the whole revolving door process starts over.
Illinois has one of the worst mental health systems in the country. A recent national study by the NAMI’s national office gave Illinois’ mental health system an F, one of only eight states to receive that low a grade. And some area state legislators will tell you that we are not just one of the eight worst, we are the absolute worst.
And the reason? The State Legislature won’t appropriate sufficient funds to provide even a half-way decent mental health system. Had Mary Smith been given permanent supportive housing and treatment for her illness, this tragedy would not have happened. The expression “penny wise and pound foolish” certainly describes the Illinois General Assembly.
And four people are dead as a result. |
