Whether or Not I Agree or Disagree With The Courts' Decision Page 4

     Based on the research I found thus far, a part of me feels this could have been avoided all together. The people in Mrs. Yates' life knew of her condition. I feel her parents or even her husband or friends someone close to her should have been paying closer attention to her illness. They knew of her mental illness in the past and they also knew she was not well but getting worse. Still they chose to allow her to be around her children unsupervised. Taking under consideration the doctor she had who suggested she discontinue her medication, I feel he had no right to do this without further evaluation.

      My question I have for the Andrea's family is why didn't they seek additional opinions from other doctors regarding whether or not Andrea was mentally capable of taking care of children...especially unsupervised. It is the family's responsibility to ensure their siblings are of a healthy state of mind. If more opinions from the medical and research fields were taken into consideration I feel the thought Mrs. Yates shared with the jail psychiatrist would have never been spoken. No child deserves to know or witness the thought of a mother who vocally announces “ the kids were destined to perish in the fires of hell”

References:

• A&E Television, Initials. (2010). Andrea Yates biography ( 1964 – 8211 ) . Retrieved from http://www.biography.com/articles/Andrea-Yates-235801

• BROWN, A. (2006, July 7). Suicide attempts recounted . Retrieved from http://www.vanceholmes.com/court/trial_yates.html 

• Devereux, (2010). Devereux texas treatment network. Retrieved from http://www.devereux.org

• Insel, MD., T. The National Institute of Mental Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2010). Spotlight on postpartum depression Washington, DC: Government Printing Office. Retrieved from http://www.nimh.nih.gov/about/director/2010/spotlight-on-postpartum-depression.shtml

• Montaldo, C. (2007). Profile of andrea yates. Retrieved from http://crime.about.com/od/current/p/andreayates.htm

• O'Malley, S. (2002, February). A cry in the dark. 'O' Magazine, Retrieved from http://www.oprah.com/omagazine/Andrea-Yates-A-Cry-in-the-Dark 
•  Roche, T. (2002, March 11). The devil and andrea yates. Time Magazine, Retrieved from http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1001989,00.html 
•  ROSANNA RUIZ.  (2006, July 28). THE ANDREA YATES CASE / It took five years and two trials for George Parnham to help change how the legal system views the mentally ill / He couldn't walk away :[3 STAR , 0 Edition]. Houston Chronicle,p. A.1.  Retrieved May 22, 2011, from ProQuest Newsstand. (Document ID: 1085180761). 
• Sarason, I. & Sarason, B., (2005). Abnormal psychology: The problem of maladaptive behavior.     (11^th ed.) Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education. ISBN: 0536306044.

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