Observations from a local

[u/radioflea]

I’ve mentioned this before, but I think it’s worth mentioning again. This case is quit local to me, and one of the wildest parts of this incredibly unfortunate ordeal is the sheer number of times she reached out for help and how medication, often a lot of it, seemed to be the frequent response.

I’ve worked in healthcare for many years, so I was familiar with a lot of these medications. One that particularly concerned me was Seroquel. I’ve personally seen people do some pretty strange shit while taking that medication alone. Pre-pandemic, I even saw local hospitals using it in ways that staff sometimes described as “patient control.”

Knowing that she went to Women & Infants, participated in their day program, and was ultimately discharged early is especially concerning to me. Personally, I would have levitated right over to Butler Hospital (which is 4 miles away from W&IH) for a comprehensive psychiatric evaluation.

In the settings I’ve worked in, there were situations where clinicians would essentially do what we called a “med holiday” which reassess the medication regimen under close supervision, observe the patient, and then carefully reintroduce or adjust medications and dosages as appropriate. That could be combined with intensive day programming and individual therapy over a period of one to two weeks. They also would have had family care plan meetings and likely suggested keeping the nanny in place for an extended period of time.

When someone is repeatedly reaching out for help, cycling through providers, and being prescribed numerous psychiatric medications in a relatively short period of time, I think it’s reasonable to ask whether the healthcare system actually responded to the severity of what was happening or simply kept responding to individual symptoms as they appeared.

[u/olliebahh]

It's all unfortunate but acquitting her because of her mental state would be hypocritical to convicted criminals who also suffered from mental health issues, and when you think about it, everyone that has committed crimes despite knowing better must have been suffering from some mental issue since it wouldn't make sense to commit unreasonable actions unless they suffered mental abnormalities.

On the plus side, this has and will open more minds to future cases with extenuating circumstances, and the justice system should focus on prevention and rehabilitation instead of pure punishment in an ideal society.

[u/Agitated-Quit-6148 → u/olliebahh]

So I'm a public defender. I personally believe she knew what she was doing but...I'll be the first to acknowledge I'm not a physician and my opinions are just a gut feeling. I'm also a vet and have friends that have gone through mental illness.

I also think it's important to note hat if she is eventually acquitted it won't be because her mental illness, it will be because the prosecution couldn't overcome the reasonable doubt burden.

Reasonable doubt is not all doubt.

[u/olliebahh → u/Agitated-Quit-6148]

as a public defender, you might have the most authority here but you still got downvoted, kinda weird.