February 20, 2008
11 Days Earlier, Doctor Said Shrink Killer "Did Not Require Further Psychiatric Treatment"
Fingers are being pointed at a Queens psychiatrist who allowed David Tarloff to be released 10 days before he killed an Upper East Side psychologist and attacked another. Tarloff had been arrested after assaulting a security guard at St. John's Episcopal Hospital, and police say Dr. Reddy Bezwada's evaluation read, "The individual does not require further psychiatric treatment at this time."
Based on Bezwada's report, a Queens judge allowed Tarloff to be released on his own recognizance the day next day. A week and a half later, he slashed Dr. Kathryn Faughey to death with a meat cleaver and another knife while slashing Dr. Kent Shinbach. (It's believed he was targeting Shinbach in the attack, as Shinbach had diagnosed Tarloff's schizophrenia and helped his family commit him 17 years ago.) The Daily News notes that Tarloff's previous arrests were not on file while the Post says there were two other options for Bezwada to check off: That Tarloff required "further psychiatric care" but not hospitalization or that he did pose an "imminent danger to self and others."
The NY Times spoke with Tarloff's father Leonard and brother Robert, who described how David spiraled into mental illness. Leonard Tarloff said that his son would take his medication for schizophrenia long enough to feel "feel better and then say to himself, ‘I feel good. There’s nothing wrong,’ and stop taking his medications.” He mentioned his son was currently "very lethargic" and "in a fog" at Bellevue and lamented, “We’ve done everything we could have thought of. My son’s life was over 20 years ago when this first struck.”
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I wonder if that diagnosis was uninfluenced by previous instructions from the health department higher-ups worried about the cost of bedding (incarcerating) the mentally ill.
in cases like this, medicating and releasing a severely psychotic individual to his own devices is as foolhardy as believing that other popular myth: that an order of protection actually protects anyone.
Goes to show how much any of these $200/hr quacks really know.
Goes to show how much any of these $200/hr quacks really know.
And if they kept him locked up and doped up people would be screaming about his rights.
I just want all the schizophrenics out there to know i'm the voice in their head.
And if they kept him locked up and doped up people would be screaming about his rights.
I just want all the schizophrenics out there to know i'm the voice in their head.
That's why they call it a medical "practice." Because nothing's definite. I'm sure if you psychologically evaluate people for long enough you'll make mistakes.
That being said, and particularly considering that the two victims were both shrinks themselves, it'll be interesting to see whether this guy gets sued by the surviving victim and/or the dead woman's family.
I agree ... most psychotherapy is a gigantic sham. For rich people, the psychotherapist is just someone whom they can talk to because they can't talk to any of their own "friends". For everyone else, psychotherapists are just one notch above fortune tellers.
I feel bad for Tarloff's family. It's a very sad situation and it seems like they did all they could to help him and keep him institutionalized. The state and the city obviously messed this one up.
His family clearly understood that he was a danger to himself and others, but no one listened to them. What a shame.