System Has No Place for Violent, Aging Mental Patient

A Chicago-area man whose mental illness and dementia have made him more violent as he ages can’t get the help he needs without a conviction. But charges were never filed in connection with past violent incidents because he was deemed incompetent.

That is the dilemma facing family members seeking help for Harold Richards, a veteran with a history of depression who suffers from a progressive brain disease called Lewy body dementia, the Chicago Tribune reports. It causes him to strike or even choke people without provocation.

Tinley Park Mental Health Center, which treated Richards in the past, says it is not equipped to deal with the problems of aging and has referred him to nursing homes. But nursing homes have given him the boot because of his violent tendencies. He is now facing charges for hitting a nurse; police arrested him this time because the nurse filed a complaint as an individual.

"His best way of getting somewhere to stay is being convicted [or accused] of a crime," Pat Knepler, public service administrator for the Illinois Department of Human Services Division of Mental Health, told the Tribune. "That's not a good option for the family, I realize."