This story from the WSJ is a bit spooky and sad. Do patient advocates understand mental illness? This patient was able to get representation and was released and later killed his mother.
When on a "high" they can be very convincing, and yet later when the disease takes over they become irrational and as in this case, out of control. The physicians were not on the list of those in favor of his release. BD
But the doctor's notes also show that William's release was backed by government-funded patient advocates. According to medical records, the advocates -- none of them physicians -- appear to have fought for his right to refuse treatment, to have coached him on how to answer doctors' questions and to have resisted the medical staff's efforts to contact his parents. As one doctor wrote, William told him his advocates believed he is "not a danger, and should be released.
"None of this would have happened if I had been medicated."
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