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By J. Patrick Coolican (contact) 
Sunday, Jan. 27, 2013 | 2 a.m.
For thousands of Southern Nevadans who have dealt with a family member in crisis, watching the Steven Brooks story unfold must feel surreal and all too familiar. Brooks, a Democratic assemblyman, was hospitalized Friday after his family called Metro police because of his increasingly erratic behavior, which indicates he is unwell and needs help. The safety of Brooks and his family and other legislators is paramount. The situation came to light when he was arrested Jan. 19 with a loaded gun. Police allege he had been making threatening remarks about Assembly Speaker Marilyn Kirkpatrick after he had been passed over ...
Obamacare-2010, is prescriptive government controlled healthcare.
To get any change for mental illness help and care the Obama created law must be corrected
And HIPAA-1996, Privacy Rules, passed under Clinton, must be changed
It's estimated that 20 percent of the population suffer from mental and emotional illnesses. Maybe more in bad economic times like these. Of these, about 12 percent seek medical assistance/counseling for their conditions. Society can't force them to do so except under rare and unusual conditions like the Congressman. The majority go about their lives suffering and untreated.
CarmineD
Any court hearing? They say you are insane and will throw you in the snake pit. Sounds like the old Soviet union. Blacks, women and "deviants" usually are the victims of a run away mental health system.
And what is the mental health of the cops and judges who do the enforcing. Look at the nutty judges, look at the nutty cops (like the one that just murdered a 5 year old boy)
We do not need knee jerk changes to mental health laws or gun laws. Go back to banning soda pop.
We'll see if a State Legislator has more success getting help with a mental health issue than your average citizen.
Too often, mental health treatment is not much more than a prescription to alter brain chemistry and often cause other side effects. Some of these help if the patient makes the rational decision to use them. But then, rational decision making is not exactly the forte of people with mental health problems, is it?
"...none of us is qualified to understand what is going through Brooks' mind or has much experience confronting a situation like this."
Coolican -- this is the best part of your article. I'm surprised you didn't include the balancing factor of Barlow's denial of his part in the NLV police report behind all this.
"It's estimated that 20 percent of the population suffer from mental and emotional illnesses. . .Society can't force them to do so except under rare and unusual conditions like the Congressman."
CarmineD -- who do you mean by "the Congressman"?
"We'll see if a State Legislator has more success getting help with a mental health issue than your average citizen."
pisces -- you're assuming of course anything we're reading and seeing about Brooks is true. I'd like to see the rest of the story when the dust settles.
"Sounds like the old Soviet union. Blacks, women and "deviants" usually are the victims of a run away mental health system."
mred -- your post raised good points. The Nazi drive to exterminate all undesirables from the world seems to never be far from becoming public policy again. Too many forget our own nation's experiments with electroshock and other barbaric "therapies," lobotomies and eugenics.
I've yet to see anything here from someone even claiming to know Brooks personally and what he's going through. This could very well be gossip amok.
"Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, small minds discuss people." -- Admiral Hyman G. Rickover
Even if there were sufficient facilities, and even if there were sufficient staffing, "modern" medical science in the U.S. concerning how the brain works is several centuries behind your generic witch doctor.
Most likely what they will do to Brooks is medicate him to the point he is slighly more attentive than an artichoke and say his condition is "arrested" but will have to stay under court supervision for life since he made physical threats.
The door he entered on Friday is a one way door and he can never again exist in our "normal" society.
MEDIA ONE-SIDEDLY BRANDS MENTAL HEALTH PATIENTS
Congratulations once again Coolican, another stinking article where politics and controversy are center-stage, and you fail.
You are probably proud of yourself right along with your media colleagues who have reported the Brooks / Kirkpatrick drama show. Sure Coolican, it is all fair games to report these events right up to the point where Assemblyman Brooks came into the hands of, and was admitted, for mental health screenings and treatment.
But you and your media cronies have taken your opinions, insults and fun moments related to Mr. Brooks much further than should have been allowed by any legal review team of any news organization.
This is all a classic example that extensive media coverage has a direct impact on the lives and privacy rights of people diagnosed with psychiatric disorders. Want proof? Read on.
Coolican says, "I avoided openly mocking Brooks."
Slick Coolican, but this is not greasy enough.
I quote you, Coolican, "As I write this, Brooks is still hospitalized."
Then Coolican craftily quotes former legislator Sheila Leslie, who was chairwoman of the health and human services committees who says, "We only serve the sickest of the sick".
Come on readers; let's be fair in this dilemma with Mr. Brooks. Do we truly wish that Mr. Brooks recovers, or do we desire that he falters even more? Can we honestly admit now that the media coverage has given Mr. Brooks an even more negative effect on his future and therefore, his own mental health? Should Mr. Brooks not feel more depressed and anxious as a result of all this? Could all this media coverage bring Mr. Brooks to a point of being totally withdrawn and self-isolated? How about the possibilities of suicide? Or even worse, what society fears most, the extreme acts of hostility?
Instead of all the fun and snide remarks, the reporting of mental health issues would better serve society as a whole with some articles and or acts of sensitivity.
So you are now a mental health care professional? Was is DX made public by a doctor with Brooks permission?
"CarmineD -- who do you mean by "the Congressman"?" @ KillerB
I meant Mr. Brooks. Mea Culpa. Hovever, if I were referring to the US Congress, I would have used the plural form: Congressmen. ;-)
CarmineD
"I meant Mr. Brooks."
CarmineD -- he's a Nevada Assemblyman, not a Congressman.
He's a D. You hope he gets better. Were he an R, you would be busting him.
Compliments to his FAMILY for dealing with it. I would argue with Ms. Buckley that the needs in K-12 and higher ed are NOT as great. We dump way too much of our resources into broken K-12 and higher ed. So much so that we have extremely limited resources remaining for ESSENTIAL public services. Follow this: We could confiscate 90% of EVERYBODY'S INCOME and K-12 would still cry for more without producing graduates who can read and write. Sure teachers would be paid more but we'd get nothing for it. As is, we're TAXING TOO MUCH and getting TOO LITTLE. Let us refocus our funding to reasonable levels: cutting gov-employee compensation to reasonable levels at the City, County, SD level, cutting K-12 to comparable levels in Arizona, cutting higher ed so we offer college ONLY to Americans who have made Nevada their home, cutting non-essential programs and LIMITING welfare (including city welfare) housing benefits, Child Care credits via DHHS.... limiting to the 2 years President Clinton signed into law. Government funding to food banks is dumped onto illegals who drive up in their Cadillac Escalades and use their iphones to network on which food bank is giving the most today. Let's take a look at how we fund assistance for Autism--be subsidizing single-family houses when group housing would be more appropriate for those above age 16 or 14--encouraging them to learn how to live in a group setting or on their own. Ditto on increasing payments to grandparents and step-parents to "foster" their relatives. Let's look at Medicaid and the people who've been USING US year after year. We NEED that funding for essential programs that would include trauma situations of the mentally ill. p.s. Those adjudicated and/or diagnosed with long-term mental illness might also do well in group living situations, perhaps even maintaining employment. Group living is much more cost effective than long-term commitment to a hospital or incarceration--and much more quality of life for the residents.
Kick 'em all loose, then take pictures of them peering in the windows of gun stores, drooling at the sight of AK-47's and AR-15's. Winston Churchill was absolutely correct when he once declared, "America can always be counted on to do the right thing. But only after trying everything else that doesn't work." That would make Nevada the most American state of the union.
Bradley, they do have to "sell newspapers." I realize you have experience dealing with the incarcerated sick and would have a perspective on how we deal with SOME of the more violent with mental health issues. (And whether you agree or not, many with MH issues must be incarcerated since there is no way we can fund 24/7 commitment for all needing it.) As I've maintained re Sandy Hook, "we" forced that Perp into what he did. What individual can withstand abandonment by much of the family--bad quotes from brother. Father absent and "distant" from son. Mom left to deal with it but she was more concerned with volunteering her time to others. Sure she home schooled the Perp RATHER THAN deal with the public schools that magnified the Perp's issues. Rather obvious he was bullied and in pain all the time. In consideration, Mr. Brooks may have been behaving quit well: hearsay, then more hearsay, like the tin can telephone relay where the end "message" isn't even similar to what was first said. I haven't seen or heard anything definitive on the gun possession. Brooks had it in the car driving when alleged victims were miles away? I'm not trying to work all sides of this. It's just NEVER black or white. We all have "weak" moments and many deal with outright MH issues at various times. So let's all behave as if the next guy MIGHT be having a bad day and treat each other with reasonable respect. When we see another who is not or cannot do the same, let's call upon services including law enforcement for PRECAUTIONARY action with the funding for diversion to MH crisis services. So let's DIVERT SOME FUNDING from K-12 into ESSENTIAL public services. It is just a shame that we spend upwards of $12,000 a kid per year when the same kids and the rest of us can't cover adequate shelter, heat, food, health care.
"Metro prides itself on its crisis intervention team and progressive policies for dealing with the mentally ill..." - from the column
Tell that to Gibson's family.
@boftx
No one could have articulated Metro's lack of credibility on this issue better or more succinctly than you did.
Congratulations and thanks.
"Tell that to Gibson's family."
boftx -- good one.
"If the exercise of constitutional rights will thwart the effectiveness of a system of law enforcement, then there is something very wrong with that system." -- Escobedo v. State of Illinois, 378 U.S. 478, 490 (1964)
"CarmineD -- he's a Nevada Assemblyman, not a Congressman." @ KillerB
Yes, I know. And realized my mistake when I reread my post. I was thinking assemblyman but typed Congressman. By then it's too late to correct. You were right to question me and set the record straight. Thank you.
CarmineD
Comment removed by moderator. Off Topic
Many people have mental health issues and function more or less normally every day. Some with medication, many without. Our society is not particularly supportive or forgiving, so seeking assistance is rarely seen as a "smart" thing to do. As a consequence, it's only when their behavior becomes threatening or violent that we intervene -- and that probably is the most effective & suitable approach available to us. (More pro-active policies would possibly infringe upon rights or privacy, more robust treatment offerings would be prohibitively expensive and of questionable benefit to society). What we're left with is a need for increases in treatment services to those incarerated or recently released, to reduce their rate of recidivism; and increased out-patient offerings for those who pro-actively self-identify (before they go off the rails). I also think increased efforts in this area will realistically do more to prevent the next Newtown than anything being proposed, but that's just an opinion (and we all know what those are worth).
Brooks was just putting on a show. His so called mental illness was to avoid court and to gain petty from the voters. He is incompetent and incapable of serving his district or the people of North Las Vegas. He sets all the wrong example of a public servant.
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