Va. Tech Mental Health Records
Coming soon to a headline near you: The mental health records of Virginia Tech Seung-Hui Cho, who killed 32 people before turning the gun on himself. (That number still stuns me.) Apparently, a worker at the counseling center had taken the records home — I’m guessing to protect someone. And for whatever reason, they’ve just been located now by lawyers working on a civil lawsuit against the university. From the AP:
Kaine said the records would be released as soon as possible. Lawyers in a civil lawsuit found the records in the possession of a former worker at the counseling center.
The governor said taking confidential records from the counseling center was illegal and state police were investigating how the records disappeared.
He said officials first would ask the administrator of Cho’s estate to release the files. A second option was to subpoena the records.
He also said he was not happy that the criminal investigation of the shootings failed to uncover the files.
While a large part of the shooting investigation focused on how university officials and law enforcement responded following the first reports of shootings in a Virginia Tech dormitory, family members of the victims have also inquired about how the troubled Cho slipped through the cracks at university counseling.
In April, on the second anniversary of the shootings, families of two slain students sued the state, the school and its counseling center, several top university officials and a local mental health agency, claiming gross negligence in the chain of events that allowed Cho to commit his killing spree.
The lawsuits also claim a local health center where Cho had gone to say he felt suicidal did not adequately treat or monitor him. The status of the lawsuit was not immediately known.
Holly Sherman, whose daughter Leslie was among those killed, said in November that she was less concerned with continued analysis of how university officials responded to the massacre and more interested in learning about Cho’s mental treatment.
Mike White, whose daughter Nicole was killed, said in November he was concerned about why Cho’s mental records went missing.
Andrew Goddard, whose son Colin was shot four times but survived, said there was more work to be done on mental health services. Goddard was appointed last year to the state board of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services.
liz | 9:14 AM | criminal justice system
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In the case of Cho at VA Tech, the campus police had the opportunity and responsibility to investigate Cho’s behaviors and charge him with the crimes and/or misdemeanors he had committed.
In my experience with US Marshals, they often expressed that in
their experience, an assailant who had placed others in fear for their personal safety (even if he did not threaten with a weapon)could be held for a criminal charge.
I worked in Forensic Psychiatry for over 20 years and it has been evident to me that a number of educational institutions seem to avoid charging students with the crimes they have committed.
Since NO ONE seemed to have issued a formal complaint that seemed to arouse the campus police into action, he had not been treated as a student in need of supervision by the criminal court system. Many of the personnel in civil hospitals, have not had experience with Forensic clients.
Also Forensic patients sometimes harm cvilian patients via threats or menacing behaviors. Civil patients should not be subjected to violent or sociopathic behaviors by others on civil units.
He stayed in the civil court system and was never worked up by any State of Virginia Forensic Psychiatric pre-trial facility. In my humble opinion, his work up at a civil court system was a joke. Since he only needed to be in a civilian hospital for 48-72 hours, no in depth work up could be accomplished.
Judges in Washington, DC often ordered Forensic examinations for 60-90 days.
Such a long period was necessary so that prisoner patients could receive in depth examinations and avoid hiding any mental disorders the prisoner patient may have. Or in the case of those who were claiming they had a mental disorder, it is difficult to hide malingering for 60-90 days.
Most facilities do not allow staff to bring patient records to their homes and so this former staff member should receive appropriate charges.
Hi Liz,
How sad. My thoughts are with those that have lost a loved one.
I read your article and wanted to add to your discussion with respect to all parties;
There seem variable discrepancies around this tragic event. Being a parent myself I can really empathize with the all the parents.
I, like Holly Sherman, would be determined to establish just what kind of mental illness Cho was suffering from.
Again like Mike I would be horrified that the case notes were taken from the building and why? Who was responsible? Who was his counselor?
I totally agree with Andrew Goddard, whom said there was more work to be done on mental health services.
But in actual fact all of this except the latter, will not bring those that were murdered back but will allow the bereaved a chance to channel their energies into uncovering why this happened and hopefully preventing it from happening again.
Thank you
Regards
Gary Graye
I’m more concerned about how the administrators handled the matter as it was happening.
I never got why they didn’t shut the school down after the first shootings? I understand they thought initially it was a domestic dispute but really; 2 students shot dead in the housing dormitory doesn’t shut down a small college campus?
This was a tremendous tragedy perpetrated by a very disturbed individual. It will be interesting to see what, if anything, those records say about Cho’s mental state. How could have Va Tech have acted that might have prevented this? Was there enough in Cho’s records that was actionable? How culpable is Va Tech? That last question is a sticky one. Often colleges and universities are held responsible civilly if a student with a mental illness causes harm to his or her self or to someone else. Schools have responded drastically by suspending anyone with even a hint of depression to avoid being responsible. This has prevented troubled students from seeking treatment, especially when they need help.
Allowing the records to be read by all, helps not only civilians affected by sociopathic behaviors of the mentally unstable and become alerted to red flags, but it also helps with reducing stigma. Now I know some of you will scream at the idea of reducing stigma but if you read his records carefully I’m sure you will see flaws in the system even you wish (for those of you who have mental illness and have any level of empathy and remorse) had been taken more seriously before such a tragic occurence took place, affecting not just 32 people but the ripple effect affected 1000’s.
Universities are admittedly unequipt to manage serious mental illness. The dichotomy is that their students are of the prime age for developing mental illness, those vulnerable young adult years.
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