Pete Domenici: “this is an article that follows on the tragedy that happened here in Washington when a man, 41 years of age, obviously…”

“this is an article that follows on the tragedy that happened here in Washington when a man, 41 years of age, obviously suffering from a very serious disease called schizophrenia, was off his medication and, because of his disease, did the kind of things that have shocked our country and shocked our Capitol. The story is about four or five people in the United States who have family members with the same disease, schizophrenia, and have suffered the consequences of their relative, son or daughter, being off the medication--because there is a propensity on the part of those with this ailment to not want to be on medication. Sometimes it offends them a bit. Sometimes it causes extreme obesity. Sometimes it causes some muscular jittering. But whatever the case, it is hard to keep them on their medication. I believe we might turn this terrible incident into a constructive response to a very destructive event because, as this article points out, there is little that the parents and relatives can do in their communities to help when they begin to feel the desolation and absolute loneliness when a member of their family, a daughter or son who has this dread disease, decides not to stay on the medication or the medication needs to be changed to be effective. The loneliness is absolutely incredible. As a matter of fact, in this marvelous land of ours, it is fair to say that only in a few places is there any help at all for these people.…”