Christy Scheck - 1992

13 year old Christy Scheck was found hanging at the Southwood Psychiatric Hospital it was the expected outcome everybody within the treatment system should have seen coming. When you put the life of severely depressed girl into the hands of totally untrained and underpaid employees what is to expect?

Using for profit-hospitals includes risk of poor treatment when it fits the shareholders.

Of course the lawyers representing hospitals and the responsible authorities which should guard the population against the greed in the system would imply that the family did hold some degree of responsibility when they took a quiet alternative approach dealing with this girls transition from a girl to a women, but frankly it has nothing to do with the quality of the treatment once the family has sought help. Every family makes mistakes. The good parents are those who ask for help when they realize that they are in over their heads - even paying for it when it is necessary.

Such parents should not be victims for what it basically a scam. They should be given real help. Parents cannot run their own accreditation agency. The state should see to that the quality is at a standard which would ensure treatment for these vulnerable children.

It was not the case here.

Christy Scheck died at age 13.

May she rest in peace.


Sources:

• Mental hell How the American Health-care system killed a 13-year old girl (TeenAdvocate USA)
• Victims - 1990s (Fornits Wiki)
• Book: A Wrongful Death: One Child's Fatal Encounter with Public Health and Private Greed (By Leon Bing, Amazon Book store, ISBN-10 0679448411)