The threat is lack of mental health care

Recently, an elderly man in Lombard, Illinois was charged with the murder of his Dementia-diagnosed wife. She had been suffering with the affliction for 15 years and, in addition to having a history of threatening her husband, was recently becoming more angry.

On the night of the incident, according to police reports, the man had been experiencing pain from his own recent illness when his wife refused to stop screaming at him. He reached for his gun and shot her.

While the man’s action was absolutely unjustified and illegal, the death of a chronically ill woman highlights our country’s refusal to satisfactorily care for the mental or physical health of its citizens. When an elderly couple, of 80 and 81 years of age are living without sufficient care for their medical needs, disasters like this one should be an embarrassment and wake-up call for our society.

Yet, the prosecutor in this case has called for the detainment of the man before trial, a request to which the presiding judge agreed, stating he “ … poses a threat to the community..”. The man has no criminal history and has in fact been previously cleared as a security official on military bases.

I posit that the real threat to society in America is the lack of accessible healthcare and the actions of politicians and big business who propose further threats, not only to healthcare, but to social security, and generally to the humane treatment of Americans.

Linda Siota

Roselle