(Aug. 1, 2014) After burning down a local hotel during a suicide attempt in 2012, Pattie Jill Radabaugh, 51, was ordered into treatment for her schizophrenia by a judge in Nevada County, California (“A pioneering county test the limits of Laura’s Law,” the Fresno Bee, July 30).
As a participant in court-ordered outpatient treatment, also called “Laura’s Law,” Radabaugh admits she initially did not enter the treatment program willingly. But now, 4 years later, she lives in a shared home with other people who have severe mental illness and volunteers at a local animal shelter.
“I ruined an apartment building. I’m not proud of that,” Radabaugh told the Fresno Bee. But the assisted outpatient treatment program showed her that “somebody cares.”
My next goal is to get a job, she said.
But for other families living elsewhere in California, it is too late.
George and Carol Allen, residents of Tulare County believe that Laura’s Law could have saved their son’s life, had a judge been able to order him into outpatient treatment. Their son, James Allen, 25, was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and had a long history of violent behavior and a suicide attempt.
But Tulare County is one of 52 counties that hasn’t implemented Laura’s Law. So rather than being in treatment, James was shot by police after threatening his mother.
While it is unknown whether Laura’s Law would have saved Allen’s life, Radabaugh certainly believes it saved hers.
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