From My Files: A Sister’s Love, A Mental Health Tragedy

I was outraged when Joan Bishop told me about the fate of  her sister, Linda.  I was so moved  that I published a two-part blog about Joan and Linda in February 2010.  A writer for New Yorker magazine, Rachel Aviv, would share the sisters’  story with a much larger audience in May 2011. 

Sadly, what happened to Linda still is happening. This is why we must continue speaking out. This is why we must continue to put a human face on failures in our mental health system. 

Linda’s Story: Part One, originally published February 2010

I’m going to tell you a story and I will warn you that it is a sad tale. It is also an important one because it is yet another example of how broken our mental health system is and how people are dying because of our ongoing failure as a society to help them.

This story begins in New Hampshire where I met Joan Bishop, a wonderful and kind woman, whose sister, Linda, developed a severe mental illness when she was in her 40s, which is later than most.

Joan described her sister as being smart. Linda breezed through high school easily earning “A’s.” She traveled through Europe with friends and earned an art history degree. She married and had a daughter. Life for the 5-foot-7 inch tall Linda with wavy light brown hair and bright blue eyes seemed blessed until she developed what doctors diagnosed as bipolar disorder and paranoia.

What happened next is an all too familiar story for many of us.

Linda’s life began falling apart. She began acting strangely. She would disappear without warning and she began self-medicating with alcohol. She divorced. Her daughter went to live with relatives. When Linda flipped over her car early one morning while drunk, she was arrested and taken to the Strafford County Jail where she got into even more trouble by throwing a cup of urine on a corrections officer. She was charged with felony assault.

Her sister, Joan, persuaded prosecutors to have Linda evaluated. Joan also petitioned to become Linda’s legal guardian. A judge, however, ruled against Joan, saying that Linda’s condition didn’t warrant it. Meanwhile, three different psychiatrists found Linda not competent to stand trial three times during a two year period. All this time, Linda refused treatment and steadfastly refused to take medication although medication had helped her in the past.
Linda finally was involuntarily committed to the New Hampshire State Hospital. The commitment was for up to three years, but the hospital released her after one year. There was no point in her staying because she refused all treatment and took no medication, which was her legal right.

By this point, Linda had turned against her sister and had refused to sign a HIPAA waiver, effectively cutting Joan out of the information loop.

Linda was discharged from the hospital without Joan’s knowledge. The first Joan learned about it was when a Christmas Card that she had mailed to Linda five months earlier was returned. And by then, it was too late.

So what happened to Linda?

The New Hampshire State Hospital should have set up a discharge plan for Linda that linked her with community services. A case manager should have been assigned to make certain Linda was getting help.

But Linda didn’t want help. She put down a fake address when she was asked by hospital officials where she was going. She continued to refuse treatment even though doctors knew she was ill.  In short, there was no outpatient treatment. No follow up to insure that Linda was getting help. Linda literally walked out of the state hospital mentally confused and no one paid any attention to where she was going.

As Joan later put it: “Upon her release, she had no money, no housing and no after care.”

Linda literally disappeared.

Eventually Joan would learn what happened after her sister was discharged and she would learn it from an unusual source  – Linda’s own diary.

Part two will appear on Monday and you will be outraged when you read what happened to Linda.