Rev. Erudite Redneck, B.S., B.S., M.A., M.Div.

What kind of hospital psych ward has a couch in it? And windows? What was he in, the ambassdor suite for suicide VIPs?? Our suicide watch rooms where I work have a light cot-type bed that can easily be pushed out of the way and absolutely no windows. And how did he pry open the window? What did he have in his room while he was on suicide watch that would even pry open a window? Surely he didn't just do it with his hands. If you can open a window in a few short minutes with your hands in a suicide watch room, something is seriously wrong. We can't even open the windows in regular rooms at the hospital where I work. They've been sealed shut for years. There's something missing from this story.

If the officer who was supposed to be watching him, stepped away, he should be suspended from his duty. There is no excuse for that, but like I said, this story doesn't add up. There are some big holes in it, and not just the ones you're talking about.

Was the guy trying to feed an addiction when he robbed the pharmacy or trying to kill himself on the spot? And yes, it does make a difference. If he was trying to OD he should have been taken to a hospital or at the very least put on suicide watch at the jail. If he was trying to feed an addiction, a holding cell would have been appropriate until he could be evaluated by a psychiatrist and then he most likely would have been given some sort of options for treatment and/or jail time. Because, seriously, if he'd gone straight to a rehab program, unless he wanted to kick his habit, it would have been a joke. Usually you need some serious motivation to kick a habit especially if it's so bad you're robbing people at gunpoint. The threat of jail time, for instance, can be a good motivator. I'm sure he could have got some kind of deal where he did less jail time if he'd agree to go through a rehab program. It happens all the time.

Also, if he was trying to feed an addiction and not commit suicide a pencil would not have been an unreasonable thing for him to have. It's hard to imagine actually successfully killing yourself with a pencil, but I guess with the right CIA training and determination it could be done, but he shouldn't have had one IF he was on a suicide watch.

I think where the system failed was at the hospital and they've set themselves up for a huge lawsuit. I still think, however, there are some huge holes in the whole story that we haven't been told.

Crystal
 

What a tragedy. By criminalizing drug addiction, rather than dealing in a therapeutic manner with it, we end up seeing such poor lost souls as this as criminals. Of course, he did (allegedly) engage in armed robbery, but only because he was desperate. It can be argued, I think, that criminalizing drug use leads to crime.

The lack of any kind of safeguards on this man, a suspect under arrest in a hospital room, is almost too much to be believed. Ironic that the real crime (other than the alleged armed robbery) is the negligence of the officers and hospital staff. Please update this poor man's condition.
 

Sometimes I think we should legalize drugs and provide needles. We would stop spending the money on drug law enforcement and jails. We could then redirect the monies to a more constructive area. Such as re-hab when they want it.

This seems to work in some other countries.

mr bbs
 

Crystal:

I don't think of him as an addict. Being hard on addicts is one thing. Oxycodone is a pain killer. That's the point I'm making: People don't get hooked on pain killers as much as they get so desperate they do stuff like robbing drug stores! Or trying to live a normal life, and, oh, go to the Sonic and drive into a Dumpster and get a DWI, like our cop friend did the other day.

It's not the addiction that is the protagonist in this story. It's the PAIN. And that's why he deserves treatment.

I don't think he was on suicide watch in the jail. He probably should have gone to a psych ward at the hospital, but I don't guess he did, since he was so easily able to get out the window.
 

[Reposted for Trixie, with slight edit to delete unintended potentially ER-identifying reference. --ER]

I read (a) breaking news blog on this yesterday evening as it was unfolding. I was horrified on so many levels. And today's news story was no more humane. I feel for those who were on the scene covering it and fighting with their helplessness to change the outcome. SOMEONE had an opportunity to save this man and didn't. I suspect along the line there were several such someones.
Something on the blog mentioned his desire to commit suicide by cop. He sounded determined and his actions seemed to back that up but still, humanity didn't work as it should have.
 

I don't know about needles. But I am ALL FOR the gubment legalizing pot and providing the Zigzags.
 

ER:
It's the PAIN? I read the story again and I still don't see where it says he was "pain-addled" or living with pain or became hooked on painkillers because of some kind of pain. It says he took painkillers. You don't have to be struggling with pain to become hooked on Oxycodone, if that's even what the problem was. I think you're jumping to a conclusion, unless you know more background on the story than what was in the paper.

Because oxycodone is just not that hard to get, if it was truly a pain issue. Jumping from doctor to doctor to get it, or from emergency room to emergency room, can be done for a long time before someone catches up to you. Robbing a pharmacy at gunpoint and stuffing pills down his throat sounds more to me like he was wanting to commit suicide from the start, which Trixie mentioned as well.

In which case, he should have been put on a suicide watch immediately, but that's easy to say in hindsight. We don't know what he told the cops when they finally arrested him, although, I have to wonder why they didn't take him straight to the hospital anyway to see what all he had ingested. If he was popping pills at the pharmacy,it looks like that would have been the first step.

There are a LOT of holes in this story and something is not adding up. I feel certain we're not being told everything, or it was too breaking of a story for someone to get anything but the barest of details.

And, I'm not hard on addicts. But if you think you can help one who doesn't want to be helped, you're kidding yourself. THEY have to want a change or else rehab is a waste of everybody's time. I'm all about being there for someone who wants to make a change and is reaching out for help.

My step-mother has lived with physical pain all of her adult life and is on a multitude of patches and pills that allow her to function. I wouldn't call her an addict, even though she will never be able to stop taking them. But would she be accountable if she was driving while impaired and had a wreck and
hurt someone or caused property damage? Yes, because she shouldn't have been driving and if her judgment was that bad, then her keys need to be taken away from her. I wouldn't take her pills away from her, because the pain she lives with wouldn't allow her to function at all, but I would definitely take away her car, if it came to that.

But, frankly, back to the story in the paper...I don't think this was about a pain issue. But it does appear from what few facts the paper gave us, that there was a breakdown somewhere (everywhere) and it will be interesting to see if the paper follows up on the story. I'd like to have the details filled in.

Crystal
 

Re, "if you think you can help one who doesn't want to be helped, you're kidding yourself."

Don't talk to me about addiction. I lived with it in remission, I went with it to a probation officer, I took it to narc-anon meetings and AA meetings, I stood by it in a Texas district court, then I lived with it returned, went to a crack-infested part of town to get my stolen truck when it drove off with it, went and got it when it broke itself into an empty office building and finally crashed again and called home. Then I called its daddy and had him come get it when I couldn't do anything else.

I know addiction.

And yes, I'm assuming he is in pain. I'm liberal that way. I don't knopw why a man with a gun, who later jukmped off a ledge, would tke the trouble to use the gun, make several passes at robbing the store before finally getting the guts to do it, then rob the place, gulp down a dozen pills, the steal MORE -- if he wanted to kill himself!

You're assuming he's "bad" -- that's your hard ass and right wing showing.
 

Rush Limbaugh had the same problem:
I am assuming he is bad. :)
 

okay i go to school with his sons and i really dont appreciate how everyone is critizing him for this. this was his decision and althiugh it is a stupid one, if people keep escalading it how do u think it will make his kids feel. one of his sons is sick and tired of how people are always talking about it. its hurtful to them and so as there friend, you people need to stop, NOW!!!
 

BB, Rush is bad because of his hypocrisy, not because he was/is hooked on pain medication.

Anon: If you read my post, you'll see that I'm trying to defend Mr. Behlen; I'm not criticizing him. I wish him, and his family, all the best.

And I'm sorry, but people are going to talk about it because Mr. Behlen did two very public things and this is a free society. The conversations going on about it extend from his own actions, whatever the reason for them; he is responsible for all of it.

His children's feelings will not be hurt if they don't come to this blog -- so don't tell them about it. I agree with you, however, that there are some cold-hearted bastards out there who don't give a damn about him. I am not one of them.
 

How am I assuming he's "bad", ER?? Because I think he was trying to commit suicide instead of in pain? Are YOU assuming I think people trying to commit suicide are bad? Whatever..You're reading way too much between the lines, my friend, if that's the conclusion you jumped to.

All we know is that he went into the store several times with an unloaded gun, so I'm thinking he wanted to be shot by cops. He gulped down a bunch of pills in the pharmacy --again, looks like a cry for help to me. Stabbed himself in the neck with a pencil and jumped off a ledge -- how does that not look like suicide attempts? Excuse ME for looking at the few facts we were given and coming up with a more than reasonable different opinion than you. I know neither one of us has all the details, but I'm the only one who will admit that.

And if I'm proven wrong over the next few days as this story unfolds, I'll admit that, too. I've said over and over this story has a bunch of holes in it.



A hard ass? Really?? (deep breath) First, thanks for not making this personal. Second, I only wish I had a hard ass. Third, not only have I lived with an alcoholic, but I WORK with patients on almost every shift who are dealing with pain issues AND/OR addictions. I can certainly converse with you, whose training is in journalism, on this subject, sir. And don't you dare assume I don't have compassion for them or don't have the training to treat them just because I'm not a democrat. I'm damn good at what I do and have been requested by EVERY hospital I've worked at as a travel nurse to return. I've been where I'm at now for a year because they keep begging me to extend, and I do.

Don't talk to you about addiction? I can talk to ANYONE about this subject and more than hold my own.

And, now, I'm through with this subject because it's silly when we don't have all the facts and you, obviously, know nothing about me,either, if you really think I'm a right-wing hard ass. How stupidly ridiculous.

Crystal

Anon: I'm sorry for his sons' at school and hate that their father put them through this. But this is something that does need to be discussed so we can figure out where the system failed him. Maybe the discussion on this blog hasn't been the most constructive, however, and like ER said, it might be best not to mention this blog to them.
 

I put up a post that asks, out loud, why no one seems to want to help this man -- and Crystal answer it in spades!! Jesus.

I don't give a damn whether I'm "right" or not. Your whole damn attitude about this guy, absent any hard information, is WRONG.

I'm a bleeding heart. You're a hard heart. Who's admitting what?

I cannot effing BELIEVE this post came to THIS bullshit! And from you.

Mr. Behlen and family, good luck in THIS effed-up state. God go with you.