The Man in Room 117 | Andrey Shevelyov would rather live on the street than take antipsychotic medication. Should it be his decision to make?
The Man in Room 117
The answer to that is simple. As long as he isn't hurting anyone else, he can make that choice when legally competent, and be left the fuck alone otherwise.
However, when in jail, he gets medicated. Now, that would need to include protections against bullshit vagrancy laws, which ain't going to happen, but I'm talking about a principle here, not reality
That's the problem here:
This was the problem, she told him: He scared people. At one point, convinced that she and Sam, his stepfather, were body doubles remote-controlled by the C.I.A., he smashed the rear window of their car with a flagpole, and they called 911.
...
He was also sometimes scary. In one video, he tries to force his way into an apartment building, claiming he must rescue a porn star who is being held hostage. When residents call the police, he gets right in a male officer’s face. “Have you ever raped before?” he calls out insistently, filming the officer with his phone. “Sir, are you a rapist?”
He also seems to have a habit of carrying around a machete. This puts him into the realm of "he hasn't killed anybody yet, but it seems like leaving him unmedicated carries a real risk that he will hurt somebody badly"
but I'm talking about a principle here, not reality
The individual case isn't the totality of the principle. Could have likely put that bit towards the beginning and it would have been clearer.
The article isn't really about only this one person. It does serve as very good example of why the issue needs resolution on a broad scale, with him having already proven dangerous when unmedicated.
But the principle still stands, that all of us should be able to refuse treatment when competent to manage our own care, and then have those wishes honored until we've crossed a line.
Right now, there is no such thing in the US as long term facility care for people with neurodivergence that severe that are dangerous except jail. It would be preferable if there were, but it would need robust protections in place to be viable. When there were such facilities, the abuse of and in them was rampant.
At least with the criminal justice system, a jury reduces abuse to a manageable level, and once imprisoned, the patients are at minimum danger to others.
But, dude, you gotta realize, this is the internet. It really doesn't matter what I say, how I say it, or where I say it, someone is going to complain. There would be some asshole that comes along and removed about this comment for being too long, if I made it first. So, on my end of things, keeping shit short and simple and then explaining any misunderstanding is a fuck ton easier than the opposite.