Mental Health Law

* I was very moved by Cindy Soto’s essay about the killing of her little girl by mentally ill Steven Allen Abrams (“Mandate Treatment for Mentally Ill,” Voices, Jan. 27). I cannot imagine the heartbreak she has endured--having her child die in her arms, then to find out that it might have been prevented had the laws been different. Can a heart break a second time?

In the midst of her sorrow, Soto made a rational decision to step forward and speak out against the injustice of allowing people who need treatment to remain untreated. How unjust it is to take treatment decisions out of the hands of rational people and leave them in the hands of those whose illness makes them unable to make a rational treatment decision. That aspect of mental health law is insane and needs treatment itself!

ANNA WARNER

Citrus Heights