Read the article The Homeless Brother I Cannot Save and explain how social issues of the mentally ill can be ethically addressed.
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- Biostatistician, Biology and Philosophy Faculty, Lacrosse Addict
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11 comments:
Treatment of the mentally ill
Read the article The Homeless Brother I Cannot Save and explain how social issues of the mentally ill can be ethically addressed.
While it is our responsibility as a nation to care for our mentally ill, we also have to accept there are going to mentally ill who do not want any help. It is our own decision as citizens to decide what kind of medical treatments we are willing to undergo for what some consider a normal life. If a person is not a danger to himself or anyone else, they should be able to choose what kind of treatment they are willing to undergo. However, if the person is a danger I believe we have the right to forcibly detain them and make them undergo treatment to get their condition stable. We cannot force someone to take medication if they are unwilling and not violent. As a suffer of mental illness it was not someone forcing me to take medicine that helped me, but the option that allowed me to get my condition under control when I was ready. While I was hospitalized against my wishes on more than one occasion, it was not during that time that I came to terms with my disease. It was when I realized I wanted a more stable life that I went and sought out treatment to help me. When it comes to the article mentioned, the brother should be allowed to live his life any way he wants, he is no danger to himself or anyone else. The sister is just going to have accept that and then try to be there for her brother if at any time he decides he wants to get help, or even if he does not. His decisions for his life is his and his alone, as long as no one is in danger.
Everyone in this world is happy in different ways. Some people do what they do to make their parents happy, but many of them are not happy. Amongst us their are mentally ill people who need help and those who dont and just are happy the way their life are. As a society we like to judge others because everyone believes that being successful and happy is owning a degree having a mansion and plenty of money but not all of us think that way. There are those who just happy to live on the street they dont want any problems they dont want to deal with anything and thats how their life is and they are happy with it. But society judges other wise wondering how someone can be homeless how can they live like that why cant society just look at it as if that person is happy with their life its theirs dont bother them. Offer help to those who need it and those who dont they should not be forced because we all have freedoms and the right to refuse anything. I believe that the sister should let her brother live how he want to live and accept him for it and not judge. If he need any help he will come along and ask but he s happy how he is and not harming anyone. She should be there for him regardless of how he wants to live and force him into anything.
In the article The Homeless Brother I Cannot Save, the author is faced with an extremely difficult decision when she must decide whether to call the police or to let her brother go and live as he so chooses. Although, the decision she made must have been a heart-wrenching one, I do not believe that she made the right decision; on some level she must have felt that she was betraying him, but on the other hand perhaps she could have helped him in the long run. Some may argue that the patient posed no danger to self or others; however, he actually does pose a danger to himself. While he may not be suicidal or homicidal, he is neglecting his health and exposing himself to a damaging environment. Moreover, his thinking is apparently flawed, a condition that could have been corrected had he remained in treatment. I would have to say that a patient under such circumstances is incompetent to make such a decision and that he would not have chosen to live on the streets had he been a clear state of mind. So yes, I believe that medical/legal intervention is warranted in such a case to stabilize this patient, after which he could be treated on an outpatient basis.
While I cannot describe the life of another, just as another could not describe my life, nor could someone tell me whether or not I am happy. Such matters are only subjective in nature and nobody can say, “Hey, you have to live this way to be happier,” simply because each one of us define happiness and many other factors on our own terms. While the author of the article clearly loved her brother, she could not have him institutionalized and chose to let him go and live as he wanted: off his anti-psychotic medications. I believe that the patient should have been given the opportunity to stabilize on his medications for a period longer than “a few days,” as mentioned in the article, and then perhaps he could have been in more of a sound mind to make such decisions. This patient was still clearly delusional and in no state to be making such decisions. However, I feel that if a patient poses an immediate threat to self (suicidal ideation) or others (homicidal ideation) then he/she should be involuntarily institutionalized regardless of his/her state of mind. This issue is not black and white and I feel that such a case should be evaluated on an individual basis, and perhaps he would not have stabilized on medications either because treatment is not always effective, but on the other hand he may have responded to treatment that would have enabled him to function at a higher level within society.
Happiness comes in all sorts of different forms. For everyone, different things make different people happy; especially based on that person’s needs. When it comes to the mentally ill, it seems to be both an emotional topic yet a challenging one. Many mentally ill choose not to seek proper treatment that can help them manage their illness or at least lessen symptoms to the point that will help them to function on a regular day to day basis. I believe this is where the challenge comes from. I do feel that everyone has a certain responsibility to the mentally ill homeless. Yes there should be shelters and such, but when it comes to their personal choice as to how the mentally ill want to live their life and how they want to manage it, then I believe they should be given that choice to make on their own.
As long as the mentally ill person isn’t harmful to themselves or others, then I feel that it’s ethical for them to choose how they want to live their life. If they choose not to take their meds, have regular doctor visits or be involved in their family and if that’s what’s going to give them peace or happiness; then I think everything should be fine and people should just let them be. People that don’t have any mental illness can’t really relate to what that person is feeling or going through on a day to day basis. Medication and treatment isn’t for everyone. Especially for the people that don’t want it. I don’t feel that even if a person was to get treated and doesn’t even want the treatment, would even benefit from it and it might just be a waste.
I can see that it can be very difficult for someone to sit back and watch a love one drift away to homelessness. I personally would have a hard time accepting that this is what my loved one wants, but in the end it’s their decision. I think as a general rule to all mankind is that everyone, as long as they’re not hurting themselves or anyone else, has a right to happiness and how they want to make their happiness.
While most people not suffering from a mental illness consider being homeless as possibly one of the worst ways to exist, we must understand that in this case it was Jay’s choice to do so. As Ashley (the author/sister) stated, this could possibly be Jay’s personal form of “medication” and his way of voiding his demons. Of course not every homeless person has chosen a life as such, nor do they suffer from a mental illness. However, if they are not a danger to themselves and to society, and they have made this choice it is their right to. I think it is of the utmost importance that they be clinically evaluated and deemed as not being a danger to themselves/society. Obviously being involuntarily committed would be a less than pleasant experience. But if one is refusing to take appropriate medication and suffering from an illness like schizophrenia, then it is necessary to evaluate them and their capacity for violence. Unfortunately, if they are a danger, there seems to be little choice other than to force them to take medication (that helps) and/or be involuntarily committed. To address the social issues here, one needs to take into accounts both the mentally ill homeless and society and what is in the best interest of both. For example, if the prescribed medication has side effects that outweigh the benefits (a personal determination) then should that person be compelled to take the medication? My answer would be no, they do not have to take the medication, if they are not a danger. However, it could also be easily argued that if they take the medication then they could be productive members of society and not be burdens to taxpayers and on social services. I think in the U.S., where we have the freedom to do so, such people really do have the right to choose to refuse the medication. Some might argue that society has a responsibility to compel such people to take their medications because it is what is best for them. This is a subjective analysis as to what is actually best for them. Additionally, some argue that unless if they are taking their prescribed medicine they are not in their right mind to decide what is best for them. Many schizophrenics feel that people, authorities, the government, etc. are out to get them or control them. If they feel that the medication is just another way in which they are being controlled, then is it right and ethical to force them to take it? Furthermore, many mentally ill/homeless do not cease to believe in these ideas of being controlled etc. even when complying with the medications. I do not believe it is ethical to force these people to take their medications, if they argue that it is a way (for those “out to get them”) to control them, and/or if the side effects make them feel worse off and if they are not a danger.
Society portrays everybody should have a normal life like car, house and a job. But to see somebody like a Jay living on the streets is inhumane, most people cannot accept that somebody can be happy living like that. I never really thought how exactly someone ends up homeless now I know one reason and it turns out to be a choice. Jay’s sister did the right thing to let go of his brother because forcing him to get help would have probably pushed him away farther. At least he still keeps in contact but the down fall is for how long.
Society cannot force people into taking medication or into shelters. Jay seemed like he knew the consequences of his actions and seemed to accept them. But it doesn’t mean he won’t change his mind later but nobody knows what the odds are of that. I don’t know if people like Jay get better when there forced to take medication. But if there able to bet better in time maybe we should force them but that’s also violating their rights. If Jay was suicidal his sister would’ve forced him to get help, but is that the only reason to force somebody to get help.
Whenever we see a homeless person society never forces a person to get help? But what if some people actually want help but can’t get it because of the voices in their head. Are we to ignore them and walk away from every person that seems schizophrenic? We usually do unless they’re a danger to us and then we start to acknowledge them. We acknowledge them by locking them up in shelters and forcing them to take medication.
Clearly in the case of Jay is heartbreaking, I myself could not have let one of my sisters go like that to wonder in the streets. I probably would’ve joined her for a couple days just to see why she liked living the street and to keep in contact with her. Everyone has a right to be happy in their own way but to see somebody like Jay to some people he must look miserable. I myself cannot judge if they’re really happy or crazy since I’ve never been in their shoes. As long as they’re not causing damage or hurting anyone they should have the right to live how they want to schizophrenic or not.
PP13
As a society and especially in the United States we tend to always judge everyone for any of their actions, whether bad or good. It seems to me that we are never satisfied with our own lives that we focus and judge the life of others. I think we should let people live their lives as the please and not judge or try to change them as long as they are not harming themselves, others, or our environment. Every time I see a homeless person in the street I would always feel bad for them or wonder “why are they like that, why don’t their family care for them or help them?” but after reading this article I see that most of the people living in the streets choose to live that way, because that is their calling, that is their way of happiness. We call them homeless but many of them don’t consider themselves “homeless”. I think Jay’s sister did the right thing in letting him go and choose how he wanted to live his life. He was aware of his illness and about the outcomes he may have later in life if he didn’t get medication or treatment but he was sure that he wanted to live his life in the streets. No one could have forced him to live a certain way because he has the right to make his own decisions in he is competent enough to and if they tried it may have only pushed him further away from his family. Schizophrenia is a hard mental illness but every person deals with it differently. Maybe Jay felt like he didn’t have control over his life because the illness had taken control of him mentally and this was his way of medicating himself and living the way he wanted to. He has the right to live how he wants to and his family needs to respect his choices and just support and love him as much as possible.
continued...
A couple of months ago I met a “homeless” man. As I was walking out of a weekend family retreat to wait for my husband to pick me up, I noticed a man at the Jack in the Box next door, I saw how the employee told him to get off the curb of the entrance sidewalk he was sitting on, he yelled at him and told him he had to leave because the customers complained. As I was standing there listening at how cruel they were treating him it broke my heart. I walked up to the man and told the employee he was no one to treat him that way, because the man was not “bothering” anyone. I sat next to him and asked him his name and asked how his day had gone, at first he looked at me in shock and said to me, “you are the first person in a long time that has talked to me like I am a human, not an animal”. I sat there with him for a bit and had a conversation, he told me about his life and about the years he spent in the war. He also told me that he chose to live the way he does because he knew that he was not mentally okay after the war and that his family would have to care for him and he didn’t want to be a burden to his children, he said he visits them and calls often to keep in touch, but he was happy the way he was. He also said that he didn’t consider himself “homeless” he said the world was his home. I had a bouquet of flowers I had received from my husband and daughter earlier that day, and I told him I wanted to give him the flowers and if it was okay with him. He looked at me and he began to cry, he told me he had never received flowers from anyone in his entire life. He told me that I had given him the sweetest and most honest gift, and that people always assume that because they live in the streets that all they want is for us to give them money, but I learned that that is not always the case. He completely changed the way I view people that live in the streets because they are just like us, human, but they choose or have a different life style. When my husband got there I got my wallet and I asked the man if he wanted something to eat, he went inside with me and I told him to get anything that he wanted, to not worry how much it cost. He sat down to eat inside like everyone else and looked happy, as we were leaving he asked me if he could give me a hug, and of course I say yes, he began to cry again and gave my husband a hug too and told him he had an angel as a wife. That man thought me a valuable lesson that day, that we are nobody to judge and that we should always respect each other, no matter how different we are in the outside, we are all the same in the inside.
Jay’s sister made the right decision because she let her brother be a human and chose his life style that made him happy.
I think that if we all lived our lives like every body else wants us to all of us would not be happy I think it is our right to live how ever we want to live if we want to live at home or somewhere else or even on the streets that is our problem and nobody else should choose for us and as for the mentally ill I think that as a society we should try to not make them feel like they don’t belong to us I think that as a society we make the mentally ill feel like they are not normal and we treat them differently so that’s why a lot of them would rather not take medicine and get treated so that every body else doesn’t find out that they are mentally ill the problem is that some of those peoples mental illness is so severe that if they don’t take there medicine they live in a world that is not ours and they see things that are not really there and sometimes they can even become violent and that’s when people start treating them wrong because they are considered to not be normal but if we as a society got these people to understand that if they take their medicine they will feel better and they will be treated as a normal person but if they refuse then just leave them alone and let them live their life as they please just as long as they aren’t hurting themselves or other people and if that happens I think that is the time that we should step and be like hey you are not being safe your hurting your self and other people so we have to help you get better so you don’t do this anymore and if they don’t understand or are still refusing then I think it is ok to involuntary commit a person to a mental health institution I think that if we would just the time to talk to these people and just try to understand were their coming from things would be much easier I myself suffer from mental health issues and was once involuntary committed to a mental health institution and I was very mad because I didn’t understand why this was happening to me but after talking to the people there I understood that I was there because I needed help so I think that sometimes these people just need someone to try to talk to them and if they still don’t want to undergo treatment than just let them live their life as they want to
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