Turned away: How Virginia mental health system let Creigh Deeds’ family down

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Last edited Wed Nov 20, 2013, 05:22 PM - Edit history (1)

Turned away: How Virginia mental health system let Creigh Deeds’ family down
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/nov/19/creigh-deeds-stabbed-son-dead-virginia-state-senat/

By David Sherfinski - The Washington Times Tuesday, November 19, 2013

After Austin “Gus” Deeds withdrew from the College of William & Mary last month, people tried to get him help. But after undergoing a mental health evaluation Monday, he reportedly was turned away because, an official said, there simply weren’t any beds available. ... By Tuesday morning, Gus, 24, was dead in what police are investigating as an attempted murder and suicide that landed his father, Virginia state Sen. R. Creigh Deeds, in the hospital.

The tragedy that unfolded Tuesday highlights the insidious, often overlooked subject of mental health in a state still dealing with fallout from the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre, when gunman Seung-hui Cho killed 32 people before taking his own life.
....

The story quickly turned into national news, but the situation of people being turned away from mental health treatment at state-run facilities or hospitals did not happen overnight.
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The National Alliance on Mental Illness of Virginia offered thoughts and prayers to Mr. Deeds and his family Tuesday.

The National Alliance on Mental Illness of Virginia
http://namivirginia.org/

ETA:

Three nearby hospitals with psychiatric units had room for Deeds’s son on Monday
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/state-mental-hospital-in-staunton-had-room-for-deedss-son-on-monday/2013/11/20/5faeccaa-51fd-11e3-9fe0-fd2ca728e67c_story.html

By Laura Vozzella and Ben Pershing, Updated: Wednesday, November 20, 12:53 PM

At least three hospitals near Bath County had available beds the day before the son of Virginia state Sen. R. Creigh Deeds apparently stabbed his father and then shot himself to death, officials confirmed Wednesday.

Deeds’s condition was upgraded to good at a Charlottesville hospital as investigators and mental-health officials continued to search for an explanation of what happened. Austin Deeds, who was 24, had undergone a psychiatric evaluation on Monday, but officials initially said he was not admitted to a hospital because no bed was available.
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Officials with Western State Hospital in Staunton, Rockingham Memorial Hospital in Harrisonburg and the University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville — all within two hours of Bath — confirmed Wednesday that the facilities had been in a position to accept Deeds’s son but were never asked to.

The news was sure to bring new scrutiny to state and local mental-health services.

[emsimon33]

1. This is such an unnecessary tragedy

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. Sen. Creigh Deeds, discharged from hospital: ‘I am alive so must live’

Sen. Creigh Deeds, discharged from hospital: ‘I am alive so must live’
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/nov/22/sen-creigh-deeds-discharged-hospital-i-am-alive-so/

By David Sherfinski - The Washington Times
Friday, November 22, 2013

Virginia state Sen. R. Creigh Deeds has been discharged from the hospital after being stabbed earlier in the week before his son, Gus, died from what police say is a self-inflicted rifle shot wound.

“I am alive so must live. Some wounds won’t heal. Your prayers and your friendship are important to me,” Mr. Deeds, Bath Democrat, tweeted Friday morning.