Speaking for my own neighborhood, the burden of deinstitutionalization is severe. My carriage house apartment was the residence of a man with Huntington's Disease. Twenty years ago he would have been at the State Hospital; instead, he was given a small stipend and left to die on his own. Of the six windows in the apartment, one survived his habit of throwing things in rage; there was food and nicotine liberally spattered on every surface in the apartment - and if you've never mopped a ceiling before, I assure you the pain in your shoulders is unique after the first day. There was urine in the heating ducts, and he could usually hit the toilet when he defecated, but not always.

The state doesn't want to pay for keeping him in a healthy environment - that's expensive and Indiana doesn't like public expenses. His family apparently couldn't afford it, and arguably that sort of lottery is unfair, deciding that some families get to go without the expense of crazy relatives while others get the short straw.

After the bank foreclosed on the property, he was living in a truck for a while. I don't know what's become of him now.

So tell me again that it's good that people can't be declared mentally ill. There are people who really are mentally ill, and dodging society's duty by saying they're better off dying free is not the answer.