Mental health problems can easily disrupt a loved ones life.
It can make it seem impossible to hold down a job, and many loved ones say their partner or family member isnt who they used to be. Thats the case with one couple, Ashoke and Vinita Rampuria, and their son.
After their son returned home from college, they said he was a changed person. He could not hold down a job and struggled to complete daily tasks. In 2011 he was diagnosed with a mental illness, which resulted in him going into facilities, getting things under control, and then relapsing upon release. The couple watched as their son tried a new medicine in 2021 and could finally hold a job. However, they then watched as he refused to continue the medication. They could do nothing because Massachusetts is one of the few states where judges do not court-order mental health treatment. There are currently only three states like this.
A new bill seeks to change that. The bill would make it possible for family members and professionals in the mental health field to request a court-ordered treatment plan. Fox News says, The court would be allowed to order a personalized treatment plan, including a monthly assessment by a mental health professional to see if the person should remain in court-ordered community treatment, according to the bills author, Democratic state Sen. Cindy Friedman. The bill is still in the early stages of passing through the Legislature.
According to Freidman, the bill is primarily based on the black robe effect, which is the idea that people are more likely to listen to something if a judge orders it. The belief is that people will comply with a court order to seek mental health treatment. The bill could help avoid tragic accidents when mentally ill people fall through the cracks, which is all too common. AP News states, Friedman said there could be potentially tragic consequences when the state lets the severely mentally ill fall through the cracks. She pointed to the 2018 stabbing death of a medical student at a public library in Winchester, Massachusetts, by a man who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia in high school and was later hospitalized multiple times due to his mental illness.
Other states, such as Oregon and California, seek the ability to force people to seek mental health care as well, claiming it will get homeless people off the streets. Do you think states have the right to intervene?
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