# If you haven't read this about Creigh Deeds and his son

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-havent-read-this-about-creigh-deeds-and-his-son/703566>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [November 4, 2014, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-havent-read-this-about-creigh-deeds-and-his-son/703566 "2014-11-04T01:31:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![MareIt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea666f/32.png) [@MareIt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MareIt)\
**Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-havent-read-this-about-creigh-deeds-and-his-son/703566/1 "2014-11-04T01:31:13Z")

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Read it now… It is probably one of the better pieces of writing that I have ever read, regardless of format.  
For those who don’t know who Creigh Deeds is, he is a Virginia legislator whose schizophrenic son attacked him and then killed himself. Why you ask? Because they couldn’t find a bed in the hospital when he was taken in under a 72 psychiatric hold. He was sent home in 6 hours.

> **[A father’s scars: For Creigh Deeds, every day brings questions.](https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/a-fathers-scars-for-deeds-every-day-brings-questions/2014/11/01/2217a604-593c-11e4-8264-deed989ae9a2_story.html?hpid=z7)**
>
> Almost a year ago, Creigh Deeds’s mentally ill son attacked him with a knife before committing suicide. Now the Virginia state senator struggles with unending what-ifs.

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**Author:** ![saje](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saje/32/3631_2.png) [@saje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saje)\
**Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-havent-read-this-about-creigh-deeds-and-his-son/703566/2 "2014-11-04T13:18:48Z")

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It’s a beautifully written and very hard to read piece. And his story needs to be shouted from the rooftops because similar tragedies happen All. The. Time.

Never mind Ebola, think how many people have suffered and died due to untreated mental illness…

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**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-havent-read-this-about-creigh-deeds-and-his-son/703566/3 "2014-11-11T02:18:07Z")

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**Saje** said it well.

We’re in Virginia and of course heard about it when it happened but did not know all the details. I have one nephew with fairly severe autism who has acted out against his parents and had to be committed briefly, and another (younger brother of the first) who has struggled with severe depression.

It’s hell and there is no support.