BRODERICK MURDERS
As an RN student who just finished my psych rotation at the county mental-health facility, I did not find it surprising that someone as troubled as Mrs. Broderick got through the system only to carry out the murders. A 72-hour hold on someone so disturbed is not enough. Time after time I saw patients released who were violent when brought in and who weren’t ready to leave after only 72 hours. I’ve always wondered if the paranoid schizophrenic who was my case study ever got around to harming someone. The ACLU may have had good intentions when they overhauled the mental-health system in the 1960s, but they really blew it.
SHERRY OWENS
Riverside
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