Friday, January 22, 2010

What Got Me Ticked Off?

People have been coming up to me on the street, they have been asking me, they have been demanding to know -- You seem to have turned angry some time last fall, they say. You started posting angry statements about your former employer, Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, in about September 2009: first on teebeedee.ning.com, then later on your blog My Daily Struggles. Is there something that got you ticked off? What was that?

Well, the answer is simple. If you're a careful reader of my blog you might have guessed that it had something to do with the letter I wrote to a federal judge on about September 11, 2009 about Dr. Nicole Rafanello and her patient at St. Elizabeths, John Hinckley.

In September of 2009, I read a federal judge's opinion granting John Hinckley more freedom,-- and, as FDR would say, "my Scotch soul was furious!"

My jaw dropped when I read the judge's opinion that summarized the expert testimony in Hinckley's hearing. Here was a man, John Hinckley, who committed heinous acts, yet he has a team of mental health professionals looking after him. They even advocate on his behalf. I couldn't believe it! I thought, "Where am I? Is this a dream? What in God's name is going on here?"

I happened to be a patient of Nicole Rafanello's in 2004. I thought she was a total nincompoop. She never did anything for me. Certainly she never advocated on my behalf or testified in court to advance my interests. Yet here she was asking the court to give John Hinckley more freedom!

I am a law abiding citizen. I have never committed a crime. I probably never will commit a crime or an act of violence. At age 56, I have no arrest record. Certainly, I have never been prosecuted for attempted murder. I was described by my former employer as being "as close to the perfect employee as it is possible to get" -- then the employer fired me for no reason, then proceeded to defame me.

Was I angry? I certainly was. St. Elizabeths has not assigned an entire staff of mental health professionals to treat me. I barely get to see the one psychiatry resident to whom I have been assigned. No one from St. Elizabeths has ever advocated on my behalf and never will.

Somehow, I have become the potentially violent criminal -- and John Hinckley (of all people) is the poor innocent soul who deserves more freedom.

Ha! My Scotch soul was (and remains) furious!

The following blog summarizes my work with Nicole Rafanello:

http://grptherapy.blogspot.com/

2 comments:

My Daily Struggles said...

I wonder what Joe DiGenova thinks about John Hinckley being granted more freedom?

My Daily Struggles said...

Joe DiGenova, as U.S. Attorney, led the prosecution of attempted Presidential assassin, John W. Hinckley.