Courts Ordered Virginia Tech Gunman Seung-Hui Cho Mental Health Care
It seems there was more to Virginia Tech gunman Seung-Hui Cho and his mental health than previously reported. An update published today by The York Dispatch states:
Seung-Hui Cho was found “mentally ill and in need of hospitalization” in December 2005, according to court papers. A judge ordered him into involuntary outpatient treatment.
However, neither the court nor community mental health officials followed up on the judge’s order, and Cho didn’t get the treatment, The Washington Post reported yesterday, citing unidentified authorities.
The executive director of the Commission on Mental Health Law Reform, Tom Diggs, is quoted saying, “The system doesn’t work well.” According to the article, Diggs is referring to Virginia’s mental health system.
However, I think a nod to the serious oversight of the Virginia judicial system is in order, too.
Where I come from (which is actually minutes from the Virginia border and less than an hour from Virginia Tech’s campus), people have, admittedly, been known to slip through the cracks of the mental health system - but you’d be hardpressed to find an incident when someone went against court orders and wasn’t caught.
POSTED IN: Current Affairs & News
2 opinions for Courts Ordered Virginia Tech Gunman Seung-Hui Cho Mental Health Care
Mental Health Month Day 9
May 9, 2007 at 12:53 pm
[…] nine days in to Mental Health Month, and in light of yesterday’s discovery that Virginia Tech senior Seung-Hui Cho had actually been ordered by the courts to receive mental […]
University of Virginia: Higher Education Meets Lower Health Privacy
Apr 18, 2008 at 2:51 pm
[…] all students, especially in light of college- and mental health-related tragedies such as the Seung Hui Cho shooting. At the same time, I wonder how the students - who are 18 years old and older, i.e. adults - are […]
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