Doctor Wanted Teen Institutionalized

This article is about a teenager, Manuel DaVeiga, who recently died in a shootout with police. Since the age of 12, DaVeiga had been institutionalized off and on and in May 2009, a prison psychologist recommened that he should have been kept in a psychiatric hospital. Six weeks after the psychologist gave his recommendation, another, Jennifer Luescher, came forward and disagreed. This second psychologist reported that during his stay, DaVeiga did attack two patients but only because he did not like the way they looked at him, therefore making him "not a substantial risk of harm to himself or others."

Since being committed of stabbing his brother at the age of 13, it was feared that DaVeiga suffered from Capgras syndrome, which causes an individual to believe that their loved ones are imposters. He was on a number of medications such as anti-depressants and mood stabilizers, but Luescher insisted that he did not need to remain in the hospital.

Leslie Walker, a member of the prisoner advocacy group of Massachusetts regarding correctional legal services, stated that this sounds like a case of a patient falling through the cracks. That certainly does seem to be a possible explanation and it will never be known how DaVeiga's fate may have differed had he remained hospitalized and given further proper treatment and attention.