Continuing Coverage by:

An “Irrefutable” Need

July 19, 2007

By Bill McKelway

CHARLOTTESVILLE — In its last scheduled meeting, a panel reviewing the Virginia Tech massacre heard the state's mental-health system decried as pockmarked with gaps in care, access, funding and policy interpretations.

"In my own view, the need for reform is irrefutable," said Richard Bonnie, a University of Virginia professor who is leading a parallel effort examining Virginia's mental-health system.

Among those attending the meeting yesterday were relatives of some of those killed and wounded April 16 by a Virginia Tech student who, it turned out, had been ordered to receive psychiatric counseling 16 months earlier.

Bonnie and other speakers criticized federal and state privacy laws that are being interpreted as blocking the flow of information about a student's mental illness and substance abuse to authorities and parents in university settings.

"I am very, very alarmed that there is a perception that the laws somehow impede colleges and universities from doing the right thing," Bonnie said, noting that the welfare of a student and the community must take priority.

That is a central issue in the examination of how Virginia Tech senior Seung-Hui Cho managed to slip through the cracks in Virginia's mental-health system months before he killed 32 students and teachers April 16. It was the largest massacre on a university campus in U.S. history.

The panel formed by Gov. Timothy M. Kaine is expected to produce a preliminary report next month. Panel chief W. Gerald Massengill said that after months of work Cho's health and school records are largely in-hand, but key gaps exist.

In an interview after the meeting yesterday, Dr. Aradhana "Bela" Sood, a psychiatrist and panel member, described Cho's care at a Tech counseling center as "minimal" in December 2005. That encounter took place after a special justice declared Cho was a danger to himself and ordered him to receive mandatory outpatient treatment.

Cho was ordered to arrange an appointment at the counseling center on the day of his release from a psychiatric facility, but it is not clear how many sessions he may have attended. Sood described the care he received as not being beneficial.

Parents of victims yesterday appeared in force. Henrico County resident Lori Haas, whose daughter was shot in the head but survived, said "communicating with the university . . . has been a nightmare."

She urged the panel to establish a clearinghouse for victims' families that can provide up-to-date information about care, compensation and findings. Haas said she holds gaps in mental-health laws and outpatient treatment to be responsible for the tragedy.

Witnesses before the panel yesterday exhibited wide-ranging differences of opinion about the responsibilities of campus law-enforcement agencies, especially the extent to which they are trained to handle mental cases and coordinate responses with other law-enforcement agencies during emergencies.

Some panel members informed law-enforcement representatives of the need to do more than create a safe environment for educational purposes. They must follow up on the condition of troubled students after they are detained and receive treatment, panel members said.

At one point Tom Ridge, a panel member and former U.S. secretary of homeland security, wondered if mentally troubled students should be forced to enter contracts obligating them to receive care or be dismissed from school.

But others said such leveraged enforcement should give way to voluntary agreements. One counseling expert said most students are more than willing to seek care when counseled.

Other parents, though, asked for mandatory notification laws when a student is in trouble. Holly Sherman, whose daughter Laurie died April 16, said she fears that the Tech panel will not specifically enumerate the failings of Cho's care and Virginia Tech's shortcomings.

"I'm not hearing accountability," Sherman said. "We're not feeling confident that specifics to this incident are being looked at."

Joseph T. Samaha Jr., whose daughter Reema, was also killed, urged the panel to continue past its August deadline or to turn over its work to a federal panel.

Samaha recalled the many red flags about Cho's condition, a failure to provide follow-up care for Cho, a lack of communication with parents, and an absence of parental involvement in the use of funds generated after the killings.

"It's hard to fathom the enormity of it all," he said.

Contact Bill McKelway at bmckelway@timesdispatch.com or (804) 649-6601.