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Creigh Deeds

Deeds case highlights need for mental health care

Olga Hajishengallis, Adriana Scott, Dan Singer
USA TODAY
  • Gus Deeds%2C 24%2C was released because no psychiatric beds were available
  • A 2011 Virginia report found 200 patients deemed a threat turned away because of lack of beds
  • 5-10%25 of the population have a severe enough disorder to warrant hospitalization%2C says one doctor

The stabbing of Virginia state Sen. Creigh Deeds by his son illustrates the need for more psychiatric help, experts said Wednesday.

Deeds' son, Gus Deeds, 24, committed suicide after the attack. The previous day, he had undergone a mental health evaluation but was turned away from Bath County Community Hospital in Hot Springs, Va.

He was turned away because no beds were available across a wide area of western Virginia, Dennis Cropper, executive director of the Rockbridge County Community Services Board, told the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Gus Deeds, left, attends an election results event with his father, then Democratic gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds, in 2009.

"The potential shortage of beds is obviously a problem with states with large rural areas and the downsized state hospitals," said Richard Bonnie, Harrison Foundation professor of medicine and law at the University of Virginia.

Creigh Deeds, 55, a Democrat who ran unsuccessfully for governor of Virginia in 2009, was reported in fair condition after being hospitalized with stab wounds Tuesday.

His son was dead of a gunshot wound at their home west of Charlottesville, state police spokeswoman Corinne Geller said. The circumstances surrounding the attack are being investigated.

Although the National Alliance on Mental Illness gave Virginia a "C" grade for mental health care -- higher than the USA's overall average of a "D" -- 200 patients deemed to pose a threat to themselves or others were turned away from mental health treatment facilities due to lack of beds, according to a 2011 report from Virginia's Office of the Inspector General.

Mark Covall, president and CEO of the National Association of Psychiatric Health Systems says the shortage is partly due to increased demand.

"Families recognize more so than not that a loved one has a major mental health problem and will go to the emergency department," Covall said.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds spends time with his son, Gus, left, on the road to Halifax, Va., between campaign events in 2009.

A quarter of the population has some mental health diagnosis, while 5-10% have a severe enough disorder to warrant hospitalization, says Sandra Schneider, professor of emergency medicine at Hofstra University, physician at North Shore University Hospital and former president of American College of Emergency Physicians.

"We are trying to take the stigma away from it," Schneider said. "At the same time we are seeing a decrease of resources for those people. It's sort of ironic and sad because these are some of the sickest people we see and there is very little we can do because of the lack of resources."

Historically, mental health policy has been limited and flawed, says Jeffrey Lieberman, president of the American Psychiatric Association and chair of psychiatry at Columbia University, noting a lack of out-patient and in-patient services.

"The evidence is abundant from people who are sick and homeless on the street ... and people who are sick and commit crimes for which they get put in jail," Lieberman said.

If people with psychiatric disorders seek care, they may not be sure they have insurance coverage for it, Lieberman says.

There may or may not be a bed in the hospital they can be admitted to, and if they are admitted, they may have to leave before they get better due to insufficient coverage.

"If there had been a hospital bed available for Gus Deeds, he may be alive today, and his father would not be grievously wounded,'' said Doris A. Fuller, executive director of the Treatment Advocacy Center, a Virginia-based non-profit organization that seeks timely treatment of people with severe mental illness.

Virginia has only 15% of the mental illness treatment beds that it needs, based on population size, according to the center.

"The elimination of hospital beds for people who are psychotic or otherwise need help in a crisis is a driving force behind a long list of terrible consequences, including preventable violent acts," Fuller said.

William M. Welch contributed to this report.

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