[ExI] Jimmy 'the Greek' Snyder

[spike at rainier66.com]

From: extropy-chat <extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org> On Behalf Of Stathis Papaioannou via extropy-chat



SR, how can we know?  It could be that in other countries they can legally incarcerate psychiatric patients and they do this out of sight.  We wouldn’t know if they were doing that.  In the US, we cannot hold psychiatric patients against their will unless they have committed a crime and have been convicted.

That’s not true. Laws differ from state to state, but there are legal mechanisms to detain and treat people who present a serious risk to themselves or others due to mental illness. I don’t think there is anywhere in the world where someone with dementia or psychosis, for example, would be allowed to wander into traffic on the grounds that they have not been convicted of a crime.

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Stathis Papaioannou

 

 

 

Hi Stathis, this touches on a controversial subject.  There are emergency interventions, but in general being crazy alone cannot result in long-term commitment against a person’s will.  Wandering in traffic is a legal infraction, so they could be arrested for that, then held.

 

Dementia: oh dear what a morass is that question.  In our society, we regularly put AD patients in lockdown when the patient is clearly suffering but haven’t committed a crime.  An example case is where an AD sufferer starts tearing out a back patio with a crowbar and clearly hasn’t the capacity to build what she wants in its place.  Well, it isn’t a crime to wreck your own house.  It isn’t a crime to go wandering outdoors in one’s pajamas.  Another example, grandma doesn’t recognize the man she has been married to for 55 years and sometimes goes into a panic when he comes home.  Well… it’s his house too.  But shrieking for help isn’t a crime.  

 

AD is a terrifying disease: the patient is often OK or mostly so in the morning, but they fade as the day progresses.

 

We often do the equivalent of incarceration for those patients.  They don’t want to be there, but have never committed a crime.

 

A burden I have long carried is the notion that AD patients would likely be better if they had mental stimulation, which we damn well do have the technology to provide.  I would invent that, but I suck.  I am hoping people who do not will invent that, and get on it quickly.  Make us some really good mental stimulation software, so we can fight back against Alzheimers.

 

spike

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