On a single day this week three Sun articles triangulated the problem with mental health treatment in Maryland: the lack of inpatient beds for dangerous, mentally ill individuals.
"Sharfstein leaves Sheppard Pratt, an expanded mental health system, after 30 years" (June 22) recounts Dr. Steven Sharfstein's tenure and Sheppard Pratt's transition from being primarily an inpatient hospital to an outpatient mental health care provider network.
"Man who threatened Baltimore TV station while wearing animal costume pleads guilty" reported the commitment of Alex Brizzi to Spring Grove Hospital for treatment after he was found not criminally responsible for his actions.
Mr. Brizzi has been diagnosed with schizophrenia. The report said "a shortage of psychiatric inpatient spots has made it difficult for the state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to find room for other criminal defendants in recent months." That was a gross understatement of a very longstanding problem.
Finally, "Teen's alleged killer had escaped hospital wing, evaded police for weeks before shooting" ( 22) recounted the tale of Anthony Jerome Clark Jr., who escaped from a supposedly secure University of Maryland Hospital unit after being arrested for multiple violent crimes.
After he escaped from the hospital, Mr. Clark was subsequently arrested and charged with a murder committed while he was on the run. Before he was arrested again he engaged police in a shootout and cut his wrist with a box cutter.
Readers should connect the dots
Stephen Pohl, Gwynn Oak