Mental Illness

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From:"Smith, Allen" <asmith@mail.barry.edu>
To:"'Histonet@pathology.swmed.edu'" <Histonet@pathology.swmed.edu>
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I see 3 possible ways to reduce the number of tragedies like the murder of
Dr. Haggitt:
	1. Genuine gun control: Place metal detectors manned by police at
all entrances to any institution in which guns are banned.  Purchase
restrictions can never be enforced to the point of stopping someone with
$100 in his pocket.  American cities are awash in illegal drugs.  Taiwan is
full of smuggled illegal guns, and the Philippines have a major problem with
illegal homemade guns.  A jurisdiction than bans weapons in hospitals and
schools without enforcing the ban with metal detectors is merely banning
self-defense.    This still doesn't solve the problem of bombs and plastic
or ceramic knives.
	2. Legalize self-defense: Allow physicians to obtain hospital carry
permits, and allow teachers to obtain school carry permits.  This is the
least expensive solution, but it could be reasonably expected to work only
half the time.
	3.Socialized psychiatric care: Remove the prohibitive cost barriers
to the treatment of mental illness - especially mild mental illness - by
putting psychiatrists and clinical psychologists on the federal or state
payroll.    My high-pressure graduate school provided free psychiatric care
to students, and none of us committed suicide.  The faculty, who did not
have free psychiatric care were not so lucky.   The cost of socialized
psychiatry would probably be about the same as the cost of manning the metal
detectors.  
	In contemplating these costs, one should remember that replacing Dr.
Haggitt will also cost a pretty penny [$100,000 to $400,000 depending on
your accounting system].   While the emotional cost falls on his family,
most of the economic cost is ultimately borne by consumers of medical care
and (You guessed it!) taxpayers.



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