Another Mother Kills Her Kids and the Media is Blind to the Role of Mental Health “Treatment”

Image by Stefan Schweihofer from Pixabay

2024/05/29

The reality of news coverage across the Country relating to horrific mass killings, suicides, and tragic cases like that of Ashley Parmeley, the Missouri mother who killed her two young children, usually lacks crucial details about any mental health “help,” psychiatric drug use or the relationship with the State behavioral health vendors, the people who oversee mental health services for the state.  

Compass Health Network is the behavioral health vendor responsible for handling cases and providing services related to the Festus Police Department in Missouri, where Parmeley drove yesterday to turn herself in for the murder of her children. Its Festus location would likely be involved in any mental health assessments, evaluations or treatment needed for individuals taken into custody by the Festus police.  So, what is their relationship with Ashley Parmeley?

There is a child custody case associated with Ms. Parmeley, but nothing as far as any details that may be helpful in understanding what went wrong that would lead this mother to commit murder. So, the following information is imperative:Here are the key missing pieces of information:

• Who was involved in the custody case (ex-spouse, other family members, state agencies, etc.)?
• What were the circumstances that led to the custody dispute?
• Were there any concerns raised (psychiatric/illegal drug use) about Parmeley’s ability to care for her children during the case?
• What was the outcome and custody arrangement?

This valuable information may help shed light on the billion-dollar behavioral health contracts and the failure of the government’s mental health oversight.  One can only review so many of the mass killings to see that the government is definitely in bed with the psychiatric industry and it seems necessary to reveal this cozy relationship, the adverse outcomes resulting from the relationship and time to hold these behavioral health vendors accountable.

Instead, what usually happens is that the mental health community gains more “access” to vulnerable populations to push psychiatric drugs as the only solution. The very psychiatric drug “treatments” that that Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has determined need to have its strongest drug warning – a “black box” suicide and violence warning.  One can only wonder how the behavioral health industry gets away with using these national tragedies to obtain more access to federal and state budgets that feed its ever increasing growth.  

It seems ironic that the entire month of May is “Mental Health Awareness Month” when nearly every day there is a new article of some outrageous killing by someone being provided mental health “treatment.” There is virtually no government institution that is not heavily invested in the psychiatric industry mental health model, the schools, the military, the courts/justice systems.

While it is early in the investigation, none of the reports mention whether Parmeley underwent a psychiatric evaluation or mental health screening upon her arrival at the jail after confessing to the killings. This information is crucial, as it would indicate if the authorities recognized the need for a mental health assessment and if any immediate steps were taken to address her psychological state. Details that are missing include:

• Was Parmeley provided with a psychiatric evaluation or mental health screening upon intake?
• If so, what were the findings and recommendations?
• Did she reveal what, if any, psychiatric medications she may have been on at the time of the killings. The holding facility would, by law, have to provide those drugs to her during her duration at any criminal holding facility.
• Was she prescribed any medications at the time of booking or placed under observation for her safety and well-being?
• Did she exhibit any signs of mental distress or instability leading up to the incident?

Responsible reporting on such a sensitive case as the killing of two young children should strive to include these critical details to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the circumstances surrounding the tragic events. Too often reporters don’t even know that mental health “treatment’ is key in so many of these tragic killings and fail to provide the public with this important information.  Unfortunately, it appears that the same shoddy reporting continues and one has to wonder what will it take to get mainstream media to report on the part mental health “treatment” is playing in this epidemic of violence and murder?