There Are Lessons to Be Learned From the Violence in Irvine Market

Re “Man With Sword Kills 2 at Grocery,” June 30:

I was very sad to read of the violent events in Irvine, and at the same time, very angry. So many people sensed that this man was dangerous, yet no one could or would do anything about it.

I don’t claim to have the answer to this complex problem, yet can’t help but feel some tremendous gap in the care available to these very disturbed individuals.

I work in a public library and interact with people like Joseph Parker on a regular basis. I dread the day when society’s inattention will lead to another workplace apocalypse, maybe next time for my colleagues and me.

Kevin Moran

Costa Mesa

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This awful episode at our local Albertsons market will be attributed to the side effects of a psychiatric drug prescribed to Parker by his psychiatrist. These types of incidents did not occur before the widespread drugging of the mentally disturbed by psychiatrists. The “cure” is worse than the disease.

Take a moment and read the side effects listed on the package insert of every psychiatric drug. You will find violent and suicidal tendencies on all of them, yet psychiatrists prescribe them like candy. The more that this kind of information is made public, the better to raise the public’s awareness of this insidious situation.

Dan Shapiro

Irvine

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Tragedies like the killing at the Irvine supermarket are bound to happen given our current employment and disability laws, in addition to the lack of adequate health care coverage, particularly for the mentally ill. As it stands now, any employer trying to discharge an employee who exhibits bizarre or inappropriate behavior faces a legal and financial quagmire. Given the reduction in health care funding expected in Gov. Gray Davis’ budget, the lot of the mentally ill will likely become even worse.

Perhaps it is time for a revision of our current laws, which practically prohibit the incarceration of all but the most disturbed of the mentally ill. Our society should also require insurers to acknowledge that mental diseases are at least as serious as physical illnesses, and in cases like this, even more. Illnesses such as heart disease and breast cancer affect only the health of the person involved. Mental illnesses may not spare the innocent.

John T. Chiu

Newport Beach