Overlooked in the Undercounted: The Role of Mental Illness in Fatal Law Enforcement Encounters

https://www.treatmentadvocacycenter.org/reports_publications/overlooked-in-the-undercounted-the-role-of-mental-illness-in-fatal-law-enforcement-encounters/?utm_campaign=morning_rounds&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9uJ5vxre7U4EY2WqO4AIwlvhJ4aQ-Dx1Du-xnHgiK9afogv10qEOvj56rQ-WOaGL5sjG3ZQJdokl-Y8lkFEssv6xQrnw&_hsmi=318674733&utm_content=318674733&utm_source=hs_email Giving patients “the full informed consent” on mental health crises and the police As both a psychiatrist and as somebody who has been hospitalized while in her own mental health crisis, Rupinder Legha knows the dangers that police can bring to a situation and how carceral the conditions in an emergency room can feel. Yet calling 911 or going to your closest emergency room is the standard advice any clinician will give to somebody in an acute mental health crisis. In light of the death of Sonya Massey and so many others who have been killed when what they needed was mental health support, Legha proposes a new medical standard for responding to mental health emergencies—a “full informed consent” that gives patients a clearer picture of the potential risks of police involvement and going to the emergency room. Writing in an editorial for PLOS Mental Health, she also recommends exploring other options when possible so that people in crisis can stay at home with their families monitoring them and with a provider’s support. “As healthcare providers, we can no longer stand by hands in the air while another death moves in and out of the news cycle,” Legha writes. “We owe people more than this.” https://journals.plos.org/mentalhealth/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pmen.0000084&utm_campaign=morning_rounds&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9qTkdJxS1w8d7FNe568i6DUATNRFoCLytKwvNq2fAwmOSUKFOAjANFxXDcDGNfwt4jHUokL3UOC0TSmYVhC2ctq0vTKw&_hsmi=318674733&utm_content=318674733&utm_source=hs_email Sonya Massey’s death: How to prevent more killings of defenseless Black women By Onyeka T. Otugo and Adaira I. LandryJuly 26, 2024 https://www.statnews.com/2024/07/26/sonya-massey-death-prevent-more-killings-black-women/?utm_campaign=morning_rounds&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--b199wTHwHWp8w73tagZTkZzA1LisHsilzwV_FW2oMW1LnCaVw257y8gDPXBN4d_7Ne9AfoiFyXTcEeM0BlrCwmQg7yg&_hsmi=318674733&utm_content=318674733&utm_source=hs_email