Town Square

Much more needed than Laura's Law

Original post made by John Jacobs, Adobe-Meadow, on Apr 5, 2021

I appreciated the Weekly's coverage with regard to Laura’s Law. Unfortunately, Laura’s Law, even if approved by Santa Clara County, can potentially serve only a very small segment of the severely mentally ill. Like many, many others, our son has suffered from severe mental illness for more than 20 years now, one of its characteristics being anosognosia, the inability to recognize one's own illness. Unable to live on his own, and unsafe to live with us at home, we have turned over every stone we know in trying to connect him with the help he needs, but our woefully inadequate mental health system has only led to homelessness, numerous psychiatric hospitalizations (17 at last count) and time spent in various county jails for infractions caused by his illness. What good are civil liberties to him if he only suffers as a result of having them? The only path we see for possible improvement in his condition is through compulsory treatment through the courts. Without it, he seems relegated to a continued life of suffering. Surely, we can do better as a society.

Sincerely,

John Jacobs

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Much more needed than Laura's Law

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