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Beautiful story. Not very relative to HN I think, but it's good to see the world throught other points of view, sometimes. Thanks for this post.
>anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity.
I think this article counts :)
What kind of society lets a mentally ill man roam the streets, deteriorating, instead of institutionalising him and helping him recover?
In the USA it's estimated that one third of the homeless people suffer a serious mental illness.
I live in the Netherlands and I think the numbers are the same here. Ofcourse there is help but most homeless people move around a lot so it can be difficult to track them and help them.
Also: having worked with homeless people I know for sure they will get some kind of mental illness sooner or later.
What kind of society lets a mentally ill man roam the streets, deteriorating, instead of institutionalising him and helping him recover?
In our fiction we describe whole worlds where the Damned are left to shamble around and fend for themselves, cut off from the warmth of humanity. We depict hell as a plane of the existence where the Lost are cut off from all that is right and good in the world, pitched overboard into un-ending darkness and despair.
It's hard not to draw parallels.
Beautiful story. Not very relative to HN I think, but it's good to see the world throught other points of view, sometimes. Thanks for this post.
There's an idea by the writer, almost lost in the article, that I thought is brilliant: "When he was in hospital without any documents or ID I came up with the idea of medical bracelets for homeless people. I bought about 100 waterproof USB wristbands which can hold important information and I've given away about 60 so far." There are any number of people made homeless through mental illness. They are often lost in t…
Sticking a usb anything of unknown origin into a most computers is not a good idea tho
What kind of society lets a mentally ill man roam the streets, deteriorating, instead of institutionalising him and helping him recover?
As long as a person didn't commit any crime and is no risk to society or oneself you cannot institutionalize him or her.
In any case I would refrain from making such broad generalizations about a society. Some societies prefer strong individual rights and others prefer a strong state that tells them what to do.
What kind of society lets a mentally ill man roam the streets, deteriorating, instead of institutionalising him and helping him recover?
FTA: >He wasn't a danger to himself or to others, he wasn't threatening anyone, he just didn't look very respectable.
This is the missing condition required to withdraw a patient's liberty in a secure hospital. Even if he presents with severe enough problems to become a voluntary inpatient, he may still wander off and be difficult to find. Due to the nature of this kind of illness, you are likely to cease seeking care when your problems become that severe, and need someone else to push you into it.
Although he had medication that he wasn't taking, it sounds like he was living on his own when his problems became that severe, so he probably had no one to push him to the doctor.
All that said, there should be people looking out for the homeless and making sure they get the medical treatment they need, and maybe the definition of "danger to self" needs looking at, as choosing to sleep rough during a hurricane sounds pretty dangerous to me.
What kind of society lets a mentally ill man roam the streets, deteriorating, instead of institutionalising him and helping him recover?
That is not a straightforward choice, and choosing to let people do things that are bad for them doesn't mean there's anything wrong with the society. It may mean that bad things happen, but the converse, where society steps in when you're deemed 'incapable', might be worse if it's not managed exceptionally well.
As an example, consider whether should someone who is depressed to the point of needing medication be banned from buying alcohol (which is a depressant) because it'll make their situation worse, or should society let depressed people use alcohol as an escape from their illness? Does being ill mean you have to give up your right to decide how to live your life?
What kind of society lets a mentally ill man roam the streets, deteriorating, instead of institutionalising him and helping him recover?
Unfortunately you would be amazed and ashamed. In the USA it's estimated that one third of the homeless people suffer a serious mental illness. I live in the Netherlands and I think the numbers are the same here. Ofcourse there is help but most homeless people move around a lot so it can be difficult to track them and help them. Also: having worked with homeless people I know for sure they will get some kind of menta…
What kind of society lets a mentally ill man roam the streets, deteriorating, instead of institutionalising him and helping him recover?
I'm not saying I know what the answer should be, and this sits on legally and ethically tricky ground all over the world. The mentally ill have been treated pretty badly through history, and I'm not sure that benign neglect is the worst of these options but I do think there should be some formal system of checking on them (informally, there are any number of NGOs and religious groups who tend to keep tabs on the homeless, funding permitting).
What kind of society lets a mentally ill man roam the streets, deteriorating, instead of institutionalising him and helping him recover?
Many mentally ill people are still in a position where they can still make decisions for themselves, but their illness means that they choose things that are ostensibly bad for them eg refusing help to get off the streets, help with addiction, stopping them committing suicide, etc. That means society has to decide between forcing people to do things against their will or respecting their decision even though it's wha…
And no matter what (sensible) tradeoffs you make, it will always be agonizing around the margin.