The funeral for a Greenville man, who died after being tased multiple times by police, was held Friday.
39-year-old Andrew Torres died after police officers showed up at his Greenville home to have him mentally committed. Torres's family says Andrew suffered from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
Greenville Police say they tased the man after he tried to attack officers.
Meanwhile, the case brings up the sensitive issue of how families can and should deal with mentally ill loved ones. and what state budget cuts mean for those patients in need of care.
For many families with loves ones suffering from mental illness, the road to treatment can be a difficult one. Especially when state funding is limited.
The process of getting a patient committed isn't always easy either.
As we saw with the Torres case, when a patient's disorder is controlling his or her behavior, the consequences can be devastating.
Dr. Gretchen Enright, M.D, says, "If we don't take care of people with serious mental illness then we do end up seeing potential situations like this (the Torres case)."
According to the SC Department of Mental Health:
Their budget has been cut by 15-million dollars this year.
The 2011 budget is expected to be cut by about 23-million.
The cuts have not been that deep since 1987.
Over the last three years, the department has seen its funding cut by 33 percent.
Here are some resources for those needing treatment:
South Carolina Department Of Mental Health:
The link below provides a list of statewide mental health treatment facilities.
http://www.state.sc.us/dmh/cmhc.htm
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