Letter to the Editor

Published in Newsday on 10/23/2003

The Mentally Ill

Regarding “Family’s Terror” [News, Oct. 20]: While the murder of an 8-year-old and the stabbing of other family members is a horrible tragedy, I must take issue with the sentence, “Sources said the fact that he had not taken medication recently led to the attack.”

It is through this kind of reporting that citizens come to believe that mentally ill people should be forced to take medication. The story implies that if the killer had done so that the stabbing would have been prevented. This is not proven by any means. It is simply irresponsible speculation by unnamed sources that should be unworthy of publication in Newsday.

Christine Johnson

Editor’s Note: The writer is founder of Psychosurgery.org.