By Ricardo Lezama Unfortunately, in New York City, the challenge of attending to homeless individuals has exploded with many of them sleeping on the train, subjecting others to fear of their erratic behavior, but also suffering in silence as they are not outwardly asking for obviously needed help.
Many homeless individuals suffer from mental health issues. Unlike a gunshot wound, emergency personnel who can properly help an individual stabilize themselves from a mental health crisis do not have the equivalent mandate that supersedes an individuals right to not receive medical care. In other words, since we can not visibly observe the pain of mental anguish, a psychiatric specialist can not whisk away a homeless person to a mental health specific emergency room. A sad dynamic indeed that appears to be eroding at the social fabric of an egregiously expensive and inhospitable city for those reasons. Hopefully, Mayor Eric Adams can move forward with his implementation of a plan to compel mental health services upon obviously in need individuals.
