Mentally ill have killed for want of treatment, says lawyer
Ted McCarthy, who is a well known criminal defence lawyer, said there is an urgent need for a secure psychiatric unit in Limerick.
Clients of his, he said, have committed serious violent crime when they should not have been on the streets in the first place.
“People who are clearly in need of psychiatric intervention are not being treated in-house. They attend an acute psychiatric unit such as 5B at the Mid-West Regional Hospital and can walk out of the hospital whenever they want to,” Mr McCarthy said.
Mr McCarthy said there is great difficulty in getting patients committed to a psychiatric unit.
“There is one very publicised case in Limerick where a man killed his son. I defended him and he received a sentence for manslaughter. His son was brought to 5B on an emergency basis after the guards and a GP were called to the house. They got him to a psychiatric unit and signed him in only to find that a few days later the son was back and as bad as ever.
“He was clearly psychotic and back on the streets. He drove a tractor through the house and eventually the father picked up a gun and shot him. It destroyed a whole family. He should not have been allowed out of psychiatric care,” Mr McCarthy said.
He cited another case where a man strangled his mother.
“Six months prior to that he tried to strangle his brother thinking he was a dog. He is now in the Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum. But earlier intervention could have prevented the loss of his mother’s life,” said Mr McCarthy.
Mr McCarthy said there are people on the streets of Limerick who are not malevolent or of criminal intent in the normal sense of the word.
“But they are in need of treatment and are not just getting it,” he said.
The Mid Western Health Board (MWHB) said last night it had identified the need for a secure intensive psychiatric care unit for the region and had presented its case to the Department of Health.
Dr Peter Kirwan, clinical director, department of psychiatry at the MWHB, denied there was a reluctance on their part to deal with so called ‘dangerous’ cases.
“Any person deemed to be an immediate danger to themselves or anyone else would not be discharged. We have submitted plans for further improvements to the physical structures and layout of Unit 5B in order to improve the standard of care, particularly to patients who require close observation,” he said.
Dr Kirwan said he would also be concerned at the suggestion that there is evidence of a growing problem of assaults involving mentally ill people resulting in deaths in Limerick.
“Any attempt to create such an impression simply stigmatises patients with mental health problems and such an association is inappropriate,” said Dr Kirwan.
