Coming soon to a headline near you: The mental health records of Virginia Tech Seung-Hui Cho, who killed 32 people before turning the gun on himself. (That number still stuns me.) Apparently, a worker at the counseling center had taken the records home — I’m guessing to protect someone. And for whatever reason, they’ve just been located now by lawyers working on a civil lawsuit against the university.
Then Liz quotes the Associated Press Story-
Kaine said the records would be released as soon as possible. Lawyers in a civil lawsuit found the records in the possession of a former worker at the counseling center.
The governor said taking confidential records from the counseling center was illegal and state police were investigating how the records disappeared.
He said officials first would ask the administrator of Cho’s estate to release the files. A second option was to subpoena the records.
He also said he was not happy that the criminal investigation of the shootings failed to uncover the files.
While a large part of the shooting investigation focused on how university officials and law enforcement responded following the first reports of shootings in a Virginia Tech dormitory, family members of the victims have also inquired about how the troubled Cho slipped through the cracks at university counseling.
In April, on the second anniversary of the shootings, families of two slain students sued the state, the school and its counseling center, several top university officials and a local mental health agency, claiming gross negligence in the chain of events that allowed Cho to commit his killing spree.
The lawsuits also claim a local health center where Cho had gone to say he felt suicidal did not adequately treat or monitor him. The status of the lawsuit was not immediately known.
Holly Sherman, whose daughter Leslie was among those killed, said in November that she was less concerned with continued analysis of how university officials responded to the massacre and more interested in learning about Cho’s mental treatment.
Mike White, whose daughter Nicole was killed, said in November he was concerned about why Cho’s mental records went missing.
Andrew Goddard, whose son Colin was shot four times but survived, said there was more work to be done on mental health services. Goddard was appointed last year to the state board of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services.
The sad thing about this tragedy is several people, playing Monday Morning Quarterback realized Cho was a ticking time bomb. First of all, how he was able to purchase a gun is way beyond me, but also his family and his teachers should have put the red flags together before any destruction was done. But then, it's always easy being a Monday Morning Quarterback.
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To me this tragedy is one of many examples of how humans behave in the same manner as the oft-quoted "frog-in-a-pot" experiment.
You pot the frog in a pot full with boiling water, and immediately the animal would jump and try to escape.
But if you put the animal on the pot while the water is still cold, and then slowly raise the temperature of the water, the animal will stay there until you eventually end up with a very unappetizing frog soup —at least that's what the story claims, I've never pulled myself to put it to test.
But it's a great analogy because that's exactly how humans behave, when they are unable to read the red flags; because those flags have been there since the beginning, and they have raised their tone gradually over a large span of time. But we humans always believe that the red flags are normal, and nothing to worry about since we keep adjusting to the heat in the water...
...And then, we croak.
I'm not surprised that some schnook pocketed the records, considering all the carnage. Here's One page asserting that:
"Blacksburg, Virginia - April 16, 2007: An investigation of the incident by Virginia Tech found Seung-Hui Cho had a prescription of Prozac."
Here's from SSRISTORIES on Cho:
"He also took a prescription medicine. Neither Mr. Aust nor Mr. Grewal knew what the medicine was for, but officials said prescription medications related to the treatment of psychological problems had been found among Mr. Cho’s effects."
There is a second article at the end of the New York Times article. This second article states that the records for Seung Hui Cho were missing from the University Health Center;
Though the level of anger was clear to those who knew Mr. Cho, there is little that points to a precise motive for Monday’s events. Or, as a federal law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity put it: “What was this kid thinking about? There are no indications.”
If the records show that Cho was on an SSRI, then the Timeline rings true once again. No matter How weird, anti-social, withdrawn, etc. Cho was: Nobody got dead until AFTER, Cho was drugged. This will be yet one More case in which the SOB who poisoned the shooter in the First place, should be in the Docket, ....... charged as an accessory to murder, ...... & in This case: 32 murders + 1 suicide.
@RPJ-
I have never eaten frog either- how can you eat Kermit? But it is a good analogy. I just cannot believe someone, somewhere, didn't see the red flags on this man- and there were so many- and do something. His parents knew, his sister knew, the school new there was something wrong with him, he was writing stories in Creative Writing class about going postal. That right there should have been enough to get him the help he needed and make his parents aware of this.
@Bunker- as always, i bow to the master. But you got to admit, even before the meds, this was one troubled man. Maybe anger management was in order?
What, is Anger Management?
What are its constituent parts: its nuts & bolts?
It's Psychological Theory under a different Sales Banner: like Mars bars vs Hershey bars.
Someone with a sense of Academic Entitlement sits on their butt and gets Paid to hand out Their opinions to other people, of how those other people should think, and the Entitled's Opinions are formulated by the Corrupting Drug Money comprising their corrupted sense.
If Cho hadn't been counseled/managed in the 1st place - All Roads lead to Rome's Prescription Pad - Cho would Probably still be a very Angry & Alive person, and 32 Other people wouldn't have been Murdered through the aegis of meddling, managing, financially interested, Entitled incompetents.
And if you think the people who counseled Cho don't qualify as Murderously incompetent; sum up the cost of their interference.
To Hell with their protestations of beneficent intent. The Proof is in the Pudding.
Pull the funding plug.
Bunker-
I don't know, you've been at this much longer than I. I just want to see some good- that someone, somewhere could have helped this person before he maimed and killed all those people. I could blame guns, say thqt if he had a knife, say, instead- well, only a couple people would have died. I just don't know the answer.
I am upset that this event happened. I just don't want it to happen again, and short of keeping all children home with their parents til they are 50 before they can get married and go to college- what do you do?
Take care Bunker.
The clinic director who had the files for 2 years at home (plus other patients files) broke a law, besides WTF was he hiding?
A Mental Health Worker, actually Breaking a Law? I'm Shocked. Shocked and Amazed!
What's this world coming to, when the very Directors of pill peddling quack shacks can't be entrusted to obey the Law?
"tragedy" it is not, in my opinion. (adult)People have freedom, the freedom to walk around and buy guns and do illegal actions. If the Government could prevent killers from killing , everyone would be locked in their houses, forcefully medicated and (magically) prevented from getting weapons.
(This is coming soon! Sponsered by Pharma Co. and a Government that wants an obeadient population)
Seung-Hui Cho chose to perform a terrible crime, crime is not tragedy.
As sad as this was, I'm not entirely sure there's anything anyone could've done differently. People who can go and kill other people like he did are a rarity -- not everyone who passes through the system is going to be a mass murderer and nor should we be treated like one.
This is Cho's fault, that's what needs to be understood. It's not the system's fault or the school's fault, it's Cho's. Sure there's a lot of things that went into making him what he became, but I don't think holding anyone but the shooter accountable will be effective. I know victim's families want to feel that they can get theirs back somehow, and I wish there was a better system for doing that.
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