One Family’s Foray Into California’s Mental Health System Leads To Tragic End: ‘The System Is Dysfunctional And Dangerous’
Brandon Nelson's family blames failures in the state's mental health system for their son's suicide.
East Bay Times:
California Parents Agonize: ‘Did Our Son Really Have To Die?’
After college, the kid who once transformed black plastic bags into solar hot-air balloons started working for a company that made aircraft components. Things didn’t really begin to veer off course until last fall, when [Brandon] Nelson, 26, became convinced that one of those aircraft components was fatally flawed. He was consumed with the idea that, if struck by lightning, aircraft with those parts would explode. What followed was a disastrous foray into California’s fractured mental health system, which has been plagued with dysfunction since psychiatric hospitals were shuttered in favor of more friendly — and less expensive — community-based treatment centers decades ago, experts say. (Sforza, 12/10)