starving someone to death is cheaper than shooting them up with dog-killing drugs. Phuck Dingleperry and all that is Texass.

or the doctors just spent too much time with their thumbs up their butts over getting a court order for a feeding tube.

They might have done her a favor. It sounds like she was pretty determined to go.

These sort of places really are a horror show, especially if you're poor. The alternative is the streets, where your chances of death are even higher. I read somewhere that people with severe bipolar disease or schizophrenia have a five-year survival rate about on par with most cancer patients.

about bipolar et. al. 5-year survival rate?

1 of my 3 sons is bipolar and well-into an episode currently,
where he's committed for months to get stabilized again.

He's a great person, creative, witty, well-read, artistic, and
makes friends easily, but when he's well into an episode a lot
of that just goes out the window until it runs its course.

Is horrible to watch someone I love so much keep doing this,
over and over, every 1-2 years a 3-5 month episode, involving
hospitalization, etc. it's horrid..

I wish the billions we waste on senseless war could be spent on researching such devastating illnesses

Yet we're throwing TRILLIONS down the "black holes" of American Imperialism. BOOM - BOP - BAZOWIE!!! Yea! Look how smart our bombs are! Never mind how stupid our agenda is!

A friend from work was diagnosed at 33 with bipolar disorder. She ended up running out into a busy intersection near the office and almost got killed--we stopped traffic and dragged her back onto the sidewalk. Thereafter she was hsopitalized. She did not return to work. It is so sad and such a waste. She is brilliant, with advanced degrees. And she has two kids. Fortunately she has insurance and a caring husband. Your son is lucky to have you.

I couldn't find the article I had read (it was after the episode with my friend, which was some years ago), but I did find this recent one, which discusses the advancing mortality rate.

http://psychcentral.com/lib/2012/premature-death-rates-rising-in-schizophrenia-bipolar-patients/

oddly it said 3/4 of the premature deaths were from "Circulatory disease and respiratory disease",
which really is informative. I expected most to be from exposure (homelessness) and/or suicide.

Thanks too for your encouraging words. Very much appreciated.

Another sad result of the cuts to social services that occurred nearly 20 years ago when GWB was pretending to lead the state.

Such a sad story. I hope that she finds peace and condolences to those who knew her.

The move to ignore the mentally ill started way back under King Ronnie when he was governor of California, and then later when he was President. I have watched the State (Mental) Hospitals close. I have watched the severely disturbed be judged 'competent'. I had a step-son that I knew needed hospitalization, the judge knew he needed hospitalization, but the state judged him 'competent', so he spent most of his life in jail instead of getting help. I had a son-in-law who tried to commit suicide, was found, was sent to the psychiatric wing of the local hospital for a '72 hour hold' and evaluation. Was released after 72 hours, when home, and committed suicide within 4 hours of arriving home.

But we can't raise taxes. But we can fight unfunded wars around the globe. We can have a Congress that wants to cut more of the current, badly tattered, safety net. And we have a rich elite that is outraged that we might not give them more tax breaks, since they just aren't rich enough. The Walton heirs control more wealth than the bottom 40% of the US population, and they have just figured out that if they quit giving health benefits to those workers working less than 30 hours a week, those workers can get Medicaid and Wal-Mart won't have to pay.

No wonder Congress is ranked more dishonest and more unethical than any other group except for used-car salesmen. And give it another few months and people will trust used-car salesmen more than they trust Congress.

A Medicare investigator employed by the Federal government found the truth and gave a damn about it.
All this grousing about state's rights taps a bit hollow when state authorities prove incompetent or refuse to accept hard truth.
I don't think state authorities have the right to deceive themselves and hurt the citizenry as a result. That is a privilege that has time and again turned the corner into crime.
The distance between privilege and crime is very short.
Texas ... a truly privileged state.

Families must be more involved in loved ones' care- especially so if they are in a nursing home or state facility. If someone who loved this woman was there for even one meal a day, this may have been prevented. All too often I have seen (this is KatyMan's wife) people literally dumped in facilities and no one ever comes to visit them. State facilities in all states are notoriously understaffed and poorly run. This is not unique to Texas. Again, this is a tragedy. Everyone involved, even the family, bear some of the responsibility.