If thet are really so cold and hungry and perhaps lonely and becoming ill. Why don't they simply walk into an ER and say they are suicidal and wish to be institutionalized. They would then be sent to a mental hospital, it's no hotel but they would have meals made for them, have a bed and roof over their heads, have a bit of company and wouldn't need to pester people for change all day.
And since it was their choice they could come out any time they wanted.
2007-12-01 11:03:30 · 13 answers · asked by Ed 1 in Social Science ➔ Psychology
A.) True, but have you ever thought of the people who want to be homeless?
Example: A man will go homeless just to spite his wife, and not have to pay child support.
B.) Some people are faking.
Example: A women got arrested after taking off her hobo clothes at the end of a day of begging, to change into her fur coat and drive off in her Mercedes Benz.
C.) And some people do what you suggest. Ever hear of criminals committing petty crimes to get back in jail? Warm bed, three meals a day, what homeless person could resist?
Some people enjoy not working for a living. You never know with people who have different motivations than you do.
2007-12-01 11:12:04 · answer #1 · answered by Loving Life 5 · 1⤊ 2⤋
From reading a medical student forum about horrible/humorous stories in the ER, it seems that it's not uncommon for homeless to come in to the ER and complain of fictitious chest pains or similar urgent care issues to get a bed and a meal for the night.
As for being institutionalized... I doubt that saying "I want to be institutionalized" gets you free room and board and leaving whenever you want. If they think it's serious enough to get you off the street at taxpayer expense due to danger to self or others, then I suspect that you're not the one making the decision on when to leave.
2007-12-01 11:14:00 · answer #2 · answered by Katie W 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
This is so absurd I don't know where to begin!
If an individual has a serious mental illness the they are often incapable of making any rational decisions. Those faking it would be quickly weeded out by doctors and shoved out the door. As it is, many legitimate patients are put back on the street just because there aren't enough resources to care for them.The choice to leave is not theirs even if they check themselves in voluntarily. If their doctor doesn't think they should be released they don't just walk out. They need to request a hearing before a judge (This takes 5 business days) who then will decide if the patient should be released. If the judge agrees with the doc, the patient stays, period.
Your ill conceived solution would also be very costly and would waste resources needed by legitimate patients. Jails are filled with homeless people who get locked up on purpose just to get food and shelter. Don't dismiss their plight as nonsense. That's a pretty drastic and dangerous way to meet their most basic human needs yet it happens with great regularity. The solution is not as "SIMPLE" as you would like to think.
2007-12-01 11:28:49 · answer #3 · answered by Jeff F 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I used to think like you when I was younger. I now think that if people really were able to make the connections that you are making, they may also be able to keep a job and live in an apartment. Many of those who are homeless are mentally incapable of making those connections and may be legitimately mentally ill. They may also have other problems which prevent them from making 'reasonable' choices.
2007-12-01 11:13:19 · answer #4 · answered by LGuerrrr 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
a huge majority of homeless everybody is vietnam vets who're have placed up aggravating stress affliction and dont have the money, pals, or relations to help them so they finally end up going loopy. and then theres the different area, the lazy crackheads. yet heavily its no longer sturdy to judge human beings because maximum of them have some psychological incapacity
2016-10-25 06:50:35 · answer #5 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, it's so much fun to spend your life in a straight jacket or doped up on meds!!!
Not only would it be as horrible or more horrible than being on the streets, but mental health professionals are trained to discern if a person is genuinely mental ill or if they are serious when they threaten suicide. They'd see right through the people who weren't really mentally ill or suicidal.
2007-12-01 11:16:22 · answer #6 · answered by . 6 · 2⤊ 1⤋
In the UK's NHS, many people do just that - but it doesn't take long to discover that they are faking. As sympathatic as mental health services are towards homelessness, we cannot provide services for social problems outside of mental disorder.
2007-12-01 11:23:10 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
I believe you have simplified a very complex process. Have you ever heard of bureaucratic red tape.???? And even if the homeless could enter an institution, what's the guarantee they could leave? Not a good plan.
2007-12-01 11:14:21 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Apart from a mental illness...people become what the really want to become in the end .....to become something one must first see oneself like that (however subtle this may seem, this can be detected in their speech/actions over time ) mostly what one thinks about,dwell on and sees oneself as is what one ends up as,... this may take 40 years but it does come to pass...
The janitor is what they wanted to be...
The corporation head like wise ....
2007-12-01 11:58:07 · answer #9 · answered by helen_kives 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Alcoholism. The addiction is so strong that the possibility of being cut off from its availability obscures virtually all other considerations of one's wellbeing.
2007-12-01 11:31:09 · answer #10 · answered by te144 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋