Virginia mental health agency dropped from lawsuit over the suicide of a senator's son
WARM SPRINGS — Virginia Sen. Creigh Deeds has narrowed the scope of a lawsuit in which he blames a breakdown in the state’s mental health system for the suicide of his son.
At the request of Deed’s attorney, a judge in Bath County Circuit Court granted a non-suit Thursday that removes the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services from the $6 million wrongful death lawsuit.
Still remaining as defendants are the Rockbridge Area Community Services Board and one of its caseworkers — accused in the lawsuit of not working hard enough to place Deeds’ son in a psychiatric facility as his deteriorating mental health pushed him closer to a deadly end.
Unable to find an empty hospital bed for Austin “Gus” Deeds, the agency released him from emergency custody on Nov. 18, 2013. The troubled 24-year-old returned to his Millboro home, where the next morning he stabbed his father 13 times before shooting himself to death.
Read more: http://www.roanoke.com/news/local/va-mental-health-agency-dropped-from-lawsuit-over-the-suicide/article_17adcbfb-bcfe-5b7b-9c46-49679f4cb7b4.html
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