In the Times a few weeks ago there was a tragic story which had a happier ending and another one which did not work out well at all.
Mental illness is something where treatment and diagnosis is the absolute key.
A boy showed unusual behavior as a young lad and the doctor fobbed it off, the lad got worse and as he became a teenager he became violent and struck his mother. It became so bad that he was taken away in a van with 2 strong nurses holding on to him. Through the following years he became worse, though little or no medical help was given.
As he deteriorated he was moved to a secure mental institution where he was kept in solitary confinement to keep other patients safe from him and vise versa.
Now when his mother came to see him he was so sedated that he hardly knew her, on other occasions he would plead for help.
Then one day a knock came to her door, it was a Garda with bad news.
Her son had died.
When she got down to the hospital her son was laid out in his coffin. His face had an angelic smile.
The mother cried with relief and grief, her sons expression said it all.
The daemons inside him had been banished at last, a gentle happy smile on his lips.
A doctor in a white coat came over to give his condolences.
"He just slipped through the cracks"said the doctor
No treatment just sedation.
How many more are there like him ?
The other story in the UK was heading the same way and they brought a court case against the local authority to provide care at home for their son, and they won, he was receiving inhuman treatment.
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