(July 30, 2015 at 8:23 am)BrokenQuill92 Wrote:(July 30, 2015 at 5:51 am)abaris Wrote: You know, from a European perspective that sounds medieval. If that guy really is a schizophrenic, he would be in a closed mental institution and not in jail. We actually have special prisons for mentally insane criminals and judges usually include that kind of imprisonment in their sentences.
I'm American and I think that's barbaric
Mental health here is horrible. A relative moved here from another state where she had medicare. She had obvious mental health issues. We tried desperately to help her. At one point, she stood in the middle of our yard screaming that she would commit suicide. By the time the cops called, she had calmed down and the officer told us she was just upset because she argued with her husband. Um..no...her husband was trying to calm her down so she wouldn't commit suicide. The police told her that he had to call the ambulance but he seemed to think we were crazy for wanting to get her seen. She waited HOURS in the hospital and then only saw a doctor via skype for a few minutes. They sent her home without offering any further care. We talked and she agreed to see a therapist but that became a nightmare.
Her insurance only covered her for the state where she left. You would think that medicare(or maybe it was medicaid?) would be national. It apparently isn't. The doctors refused to see her without insurance even when I offered to pay the costs up front.
Finally she left and returned to the exact same negative, harmful situation she tried to escape.
Just curious, how would Europe handle a case like my relative? Would she be given mental health care?
